|
Saddam Genocide trial told women prisoners
were raped
25.9.2006
|
|
|
|
BAGHDAD, September 25, -- Saddam Hussein's
genocide trial resumed Monday without defense
lawyers and the chief judge
threw Saddam out of the courtroom after he
complained about the proceedings.
"I have a request here that I don't want to be in
this cage any more" Saddam said, referring to the
court. He waved a yellow paper before he spoke to
chief judge Mohammed Oreibi al-Khalifa.
Al-Khalifa snapped back: "I'm the presiding judge. I
decide about your presence here. Get him out!" —
pointing to guards to take Saddam out.
"You need to show respect to the court and the case,
and those who don't show it, I'm sorry, but I have
to apply the law," the judge said.
The disruption began when co-defendant Sabri al-Douri,
director of military intelligence under Saddam,
referred to another co-defendant — Sultan Hashim
Ahmad al-Tai — by his rank of lieutenant general.
The judge then said that the defendants could not be
referred to by their former rank.
An angry Saddam then raised the request not to
attend the session, and the judge threw him out.
A Kurdish witness testifying against Saddam Hussein
in his trial on charges of genocide, has said that
women prisoners often complained of being raped in
prison during the 1987-88 Anfal attacks.
Rifat Mohammed Said was the first witness to talk of
atrocities against women during the military
campaign against the northern Iraq's Kurdish people
by Saddam's regime.
He said that in the southern Nugrat Salman prison,
where he and other prisoners were held after the
Anfal attacks, women detainees often complained of
rape by Hajaj, the man who ran the prison.
Said said every day one of the imprisoned women
would be taken to the room of Hajaj.
"The girls came back crying and told us they had
been subjected to rape," Said told the
newly-appointed judge Mohammed al-Oriebi al-Khalifah. |
New Chief judge Mohammed Oreibi Al-Khalifa on Saddam genocide
trial. Photo:AP
Former dictator Saddam Hussein (R) and his cousin Ali Hassan Al-Majeed
known as "Chemical Ali" (L)
Photo : AFP |
|
While men and women in the prison were kept in
separate cells, they were able to communicate with
each other.
Said said he was in the prison for six months and
later released under an amnesty from Saddam.
Before the start of his testimony, Khalifah threw
Saddam out of the court.
On the first day of the trial the prosecutor Munqith
al-Faroon had claimed that women were raped by
Saddam's forces during the Anfal attacks.
Saddam had then threatened Faroon and demanded that
he prove the allegations.
Saddam and six others others have been on trial
since Aug. 21 for a crackdown on Kurdish guerrillas
in the late 1980s. The prosecution says about
180,000 people, mostly civilians, died in attacks
that included the use of poison gas against Kurdish
towns and villages in Kurdistan (northern Iraq).
Saddam could face execution if convicted of
genocide.
AP | AFP
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the content of news
information on this page
|
® 