Warning: Undefined array key "rbname" in /data/rantburg.com/www/pgrecentorg.php on line 14
Hello !

Iraq

Saddam loyalist thrown out of court

2006-06-13

Saddam Hussein's former intelligence chief was dragged out of court and manhandled by guards after arguing with the judge Monday, and an American lawyer blasted the trial, saying unfair treatment was putting the defence at a "serious disadvantage.'' Chief judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman ordered Barzan Ibrahim removed after he accused the court of "terrorizing'' the defence. Iraqi guards grabbed Ibrahim by the arms and pulled him out, and when he tried to shrug them off, they held his left arm and pushed him into a wall as they tried to hustle him out the door, causing an uproar among the defence lawyers. "This is dictatorial,'' Ibrahim shouted as he was pulled out. "You know dictatorship,'' Abdel-Rahman sneered. "They are beating him in front of your eyes. Right at the door,'' defence lawyer Mohammed Munib shouted to the judge. "How can we ask you to protect the defendant when they beat him right in front of you?'' Abdel-Rahman banged his gavel and lectured the defence to be quiet. After the uproar, Saddam stood and sarcastically suggested the defence and defendants leave "if this will bring you calm and quiet and give you the opportunity to reach your verdicts. ... If my presence bothers you then I can withdraw and ask the defence team to withdraw as well.'' "You are before the world, which sees through this place, whether they hear from the so-called defendants or defence or the attackers,'' he said, referring to the prosecution. "People, Iraq's money is being stolen. Bloodshed is taking place every day, four times as much bloodshed in Dujail -- I mean those who were sentenced to death.''

Link

Iraq

Saddam's Defense Team Alleges Intimidation

2006-06-06

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - The chief judge in Saddam Hussein's trial said Monday four defense witnesses have been jailed on suspicion of perjury, drawing accusations from defense lawyers that the court was trying to intimidate witnesses. Like that never happened when Sammy was in charge. The defense lawyers said Iraqi soldiers beat several of the witnesses during their arrest May 31. Good. I don't get heartburn over these things, but I also don't eat Ethel's chili. Three of the witnesses testified last week that some of the 148 Shiites that Saddam and his seven co-defendants are accused of killing were still alive, defense lawyer Najib al-Nueimi told The Associated Press. The fourth told the court that chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Moussawi tried to bribe him to make up testimony against Saddam. "The court was surprised because it didn't expect the truth to be revealed this way," Saddam's top lawyer, Khalil al-Dulaimi said. The arrests, he said, "are a clear message to the defense witnesses and lawyers." When lawyers complained at Monday's session about the arrests and beating, chief judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman retorted, "They committed perjury. Should I reward them?" He said he had ordered them held for investigation.

Link

Iraq

Court hears tale of sheep’s blood in attack on Saddam

2006-05-27

BAGHDAD - A woman marked Saddam Hussein’s car with the blood of a sheep slaughtered in a welcoming ceremony for him to guide gunmen who opened fire on his convoy in an assassination attempt in 1982, a court heard on Wednesday. Saddam’s former personal secretary, Abed Hamid, took the stand for the toppled leader in an attempt to justify a crackdown that led to the execution of 148 Shia men and teenagers after the attack in the town of Dujail. Once one of Saddam’s most feared aides, Hamid told the court how the plot to kill Saddam unfolded as residents in the town north of Baghdad slaughtered sheep in a traditional sign of welcoming for a man accused of punishing disloyalty with death. Hamid’s suspicions were aroused when the woman touched the former president’s car with blood from the sheep on her hand, fearing she was marking it for an ambush. “I ordered the cars to be switched without the knowledge of the president,” he said, adding that five cars in Saddam’s convoy took fire, including the one with the blood stain. The court was later adjourned to May 29. Sounds just like how Hitler survived because someone moved von Stauffenberg's briefcase bomb. Just one of those things. Hamid’s account of the Dujail attack was followed by more outbursts from Saddam, who still calls himself the president of Iraq despite facing possible death by hanging. Saddam stared down chief judge Raouf Abdel Rahman, a member of the Kurdish ethnic community oppressed by the ousted leader, and said: “You elected me.” Standing in a dark suit, Saddam contrasted with the image of him in a military uniform as he personally interrogated terrified Dujail residents after the attempt on his life and told his forces to take them away for more questioning. Hamid, described by Iraqis as one of Saddam’s most powerful enforcers, explained how he, Saddam and other officials escaped death in Dujail. While their convoy headed back to helicopters they came under heavy fire from gunmen hiding in an orchard who killed three soldiers. Saddam’s men discovered a cache of heavy machineguns and rocket-propelled grenades in the area, Hamid said. Can't say the attackers lacked the courage to try. Like Saddam’s co-accused, Hamid linked former war foe Iran to the plot carried out by the Shia Islamist Dawa party of Nuri Al Maliki, the current Iraqi prime minister.

Link

Iraq

Saddam refuses plea

2006-05-15

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Saddam Hussein refused to enter a plea at his trial on Monday after he was formally charged with ordering the killing and torture of hundreds of Shi'ite villagers, telling the judge he was still Iraq's president. The detailed charges read out by Judge Raouf Abdel Rahman stemmed from the killing of 148 Shi'ites after an attempt on Saddam's life in 1982 in the village of Dujail. The ousted president was accused of ordering the killing and torture of hundreds in the village, including women and children, and that he sent helicopters and planes to pound Dujail, north of Baghdad. Wearing a dark suit and white shirt, Saddam smiled as he listened to the charges, holding a Koran in his left hand. "This statement cannot influence me or shake a hair of my head. What matters to me is the Iraqi people and myself," Saddam said. "I am president of Iraq by the will of the Iraqi people." Replying the judge said: "You were, but not now." Rahman said some of the men and women taken prisoner in Dujail by Saddam's security forces were tortured with "blows to the head and electric shocks" and that five died under torture. He also read out the names of 32 of the 148 who were under 18 and therefore should not have been executed under then-existing Iraqi and international law, the judge said. The court then called Saddam's half-brother Barzan al- Tikriti, former chief of the feared intelligence security forces, who dismissed charges read out to him were "lies." If found guilty, Saddam, 69, faces a death sentence. Six other co-accused are also being tried for the Dujail case, the first of many trials the ousted leader could face. Witnesses for the defense were expected to testify later in the day.

Link

Iraq

Al-Qaeda video shows dead US helicopter pilot

2006-04-06

A video posted yesterday on the Internet in the name of an extremist group claimed to show Iraqi insurgents dragging the burning body of a U.S. pilot on the ground after the crash of an Apache helicopter. Parts of the video were blurry, and the face of the man was not shown. His clothes were tattered, but he appeared to be wearing military fatigues. The U.S. military condemned the posting and said that although reports of a Web site video "suggest that terrorists removed part of a body from the crash site, the authenticity of the video cannot be confirmed." The U.S. military said an AH-64D Apache Longbow crashed about 5:30 p.m. Saturday because of what it suspected was hostile fire west of Youssifiyah, about 10 miles southwest of Baghdad, while conducting a combat air patrol. The video has a date stamp of Sunday, April 2, and runs from 4:03 to 4:08 p.m. The time stamp shows the minutes and seconds do not run sequentially and the scenes appear disjointed, suggesting the tape was altered. "We are outraged that anyone would create and publish such a despicable video for public exposure," U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Withington said. On Sunday, the military said the pilots were "presumed dead" and that recovery efforts were under way, indicating they had not fully secured the site or retrieved the bodies. The military later identified the dead pilots as Capt. Timothy J. Moshier, 25, of Albany, N.Y., and Chief Warrant Officer 3 Michael L. Hartwick, of Orrick, Mo. The video was posted by a group calling itself the Shura Council of Mujahedeen. The group claimed its military wing had shot down the aircraft. Statements on Islamist Web sites said the council was organized in January to consolidate al Qaeda in Iraq and other insurgent groups. The move was seen as a bid by insurgents to lower the profile of al Qaeda leader Abu Musab Zarqawi, a Jordanian, whose mass attacks against Shi'ite civilians have tarnished the image of the insurgents among many Iraqis. Meanwhile, Saddam Hussein was cross-examined for the first time in his six-month-old trial yesterday, saying he approved death sentences against Shi'ites in the 1980s because he thought the evidence had proved they were involved in an assassination attempt against him. Saddam, standing alone as the sole defendant in the courtroom, dodged some questions from prosecutors over his role in the crackdown, giving long speeches calling the court illegitimate. He accused the current Shi'ite-led Interior Ministry of killing and torturing thousands of Iraqis and bickered with Chief Judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman. On Tuesday, prosecutors indicted Saddam on separate charges of genocide, accusing him of trying to exterminate Kurds in a 1980s campaign that killed an estimated 100,000 people. The charges will be addressed in a separate trial. In the current trial, Saddam and seven former members of his regime are charged in a crackdown against Shi'ites launched after the 1982 assassination attempt in the town of Dujail.

Link

Iraq

Saddam accuses Interior Ministry of torture

2006-04-06

BAGHDAD: Saddam Hussein returned to court on Wednesday to face genocide charges by immediately accusing the country's Interior Ministry of killing and torturing thousands of Iraqis, remarks aimed at inflaming sectarian tensions. "It's the side that kills thousands in the street and tortures them, " he said, criticising the Shia-run ministry that Sunni Arabs have accused of running death squads against them. Saddam was the only defendant in the chamber. After chief judge Raouf Abdel Rahman dismissed Saddam's comments that it was a trial under occupation, one of his lawyers pointed across the courtroom to an American. Abdel Rahman threatened to arrest her for 24 hours and then cut off the sound system when Saddam started to recite poetry.

Link

Iraq

Sammy calls on Iraqis to give him his old job back

2006-03-16

Inside the courtroom Wednesday, deposed despot Saddam Hussein called for Iraqis to rise up against U.S. occupying forces. In the courtroom, Saddam got the chance Wednesday to present his defense. He and seven other Baath Party officials are charged with 148 deaths in the village of Dujail after a 1982 assassination attempt against him. Instead of defending himself, Saddam tried to turn the appearance into a political rally, giving a long, sometimes eloquent and frequently censored speech. The speech reminded Iraqis of hundreds he'd delivered during 35 years as a dominant force, and then dictator. "I call on you Iraqi people to go back and resist," he said. "I call upon you Iraqi people to stop wounding each other." Later, he added: "It's only a short time before the sun will rise where there has been dark." Saddam called the court "a comedy," referred to occupation forces as "Satan" and insisted that he's still the president of Iraq. But, standing in the dock, an ill-fitting white collar exposing his scraggy neck, it became clear that he no longer was feared by the government he'd ruled until the U.S.-led coalition forced him from office in 2003. Chief Tribunal Judge Raouf Abdel Rahman shouted down Saddam on several occasions - berating him for talking about politics when he faced very serious criminal charges - and effectively silenced him. Throughout the trial, Rahman occasionally has turned on a red light, a sign to technicians to turn off a defendant's microphone. Wednesday, Rahman hit the mute button at least nine times during Saddam's half-hour of testimony before ejecting reporters from the courtroom and cutting the taped television feed for good. What could be heard was combative, and left Rahman and Saddam alternately shouting and smirking. Saddam: "I am still the president." Rahman: "You were the president. Now you are a suspect." Later, after Rahman again reminded Saddam to stick to his defense and avoid politics, the former dictator responded: "It's only because of politics that I am here, and you are there." After Saddam exchanged angry words with prosecutor Ja'afar al-Moosawi, Rahman said: "This is a tribunal, not chaos." Saddam rolled his eyes and answered: "Yeah, it's a tribunal." Saddam saved his harshest words for U.S. forces. He quoted the Quran: "God give us patience and make our feet steady and make us victorious over the infidels." He referred to "this so-called court under the despicable occupation ... which is being represented by this farce." And he talked about Iraqis, saying: "I was their loyal son and leader, their pure fountain from which they drank ... and they were my shield and sword, within the great Iraq." In addition to claiming to still be president, he claimed to still head Iraq's armed forces. He also, on several occasions, predicted that the occupation would fail. "How the occupation's belly spills out of its guts and its nakedness becomes obvious. So the invaders and their supporters realize that they are on their certain way to being swept out, to becoming garbage." After the courtroom was closed to the public, the trial was adjourned to April 5. Saddam didn't publicly address the crimes with which he's charged, which could result in capital punishment.

Link

Iraq

Sammy Sircus Continues

2006-03-01

Saddam Hussein returned to court yesterday but his trial was quickly thrown into fresh disarray by his top defense lawyers who walked out after their pleas for an adjournment and the removal of the judge were rejected. Chief defense attorney Khalil Al-Dulaimi and his deputy Khamis Al-Obeidi staged another walkout after their attempts to win an adjournment and the expulsion of the Chief Judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman on grounds of bias were turned down. Their latest protest came minutes after they lifted a boycott and returned to the chamber. After three hours of proceedings the trial was adjourned until today.

Link

Iraq

Lawyer: Saddam Not Planning Hunger Strike

2006-02-13

The chief lawyer representing Saddam Hussein said Sunday he was wrong in reporting that the former Iraqi leader and seven co-defendants would begin a hunger strike to protest the "illegality" of the court hearing their case. Khalil al-Dulaimi had initially reported that the hunger strike would begin Monday, saying he received the information through sources at the detention center where Saddam and the other defendants were being held. "I checked and I was told that the sources were not credible and that there will be no hunger strike on Monday," al-Dulaimi told The Associated Press. He declined to provide other details, saying he will issue a written statement later. Al-Dulaimi said all eight defendants would still boycott the resumption of their trial Monday in Baghdad. Saddam's defense team walked out of the trial in a stormy Jan. 29 session and has refused to participate unless the chief judge, Raouf Abdel-Rahman, is dismissed, alleging he is biased against the deposed Iraqi leader. Abdel-Rahman appointed new defense lawyers and the trial continued without the defendants or their lawyers for two sessions before adjourning until Monday.

Link

Iraq

Saddam trial moves ahead without defendants as witnesses testify

2006-02-04

Two prosecution witnesses testified before an empty defendants' box Thursday amid a defense boycott of the troubled trial of Saddam Hussein. The former Iraqi leader and his fellow accused, refusing to participate, watched by video linkup. No skin off my fore. You've got the right to confront your accusers, I'd say, but it's not an obligation... The chief judge — who had appeared determined to push ahead quickly with the trial whether the eight defendants attend or not — ordered a nearly two-week halt in the proceedings, apparently to give time to resolve a standoff that could hurt the trial's credibility. A two week halt isn't pushing ahead quickly. Or am I missing something? Saddam's original defence team refuses to participate in the trial unless chief judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman, who they allege is biased against the former leader, is removed. Saddam and four other defendants have rejected court-appointed lawyers and refused to attend Wednesday and Thursday. Abdel-Rahman ordered the remaining three defendants barred from the session Thursday after they, according to him, caused a disturbance outside the court. Their absence has meant two days of calm in the normally tumultuous court. That wasn't supposed to happen, of course... The two witnesses Thursday, who gave their testimony from behind a curtain to conceal their identity, recounted their detention along with their extended families and of torture and beatings at the Baghdad headquarters of the Mukhabarat, or intelligence agency. Both men named Saddam's half brother and co-defendant Barzan Ibrahim, who led the Mukhabarat at the time of their ordeal, as a participant in their torture.

Link

Iraq

Saddam Hussein Removed From Court Room

2006-01-30

Saddam Hussein's trial collapsed into chaos shortly after resuming Sunday, with one defendant dragged out of court and the defense team walking out in protest. The former Iraqi leader was then escorted out after he shouted "down with traitors" and refused his new court-appointed lawyers. "I don't like them! They smell funny! Bring me someone fragrant!" The new chief judge, Raouf Abdel-Rahman, pressed ahead with the proceedings even after the opening drama, hearing a prosecution witness, as he sought to assert tight control over the court. Sammy's tactics involve making him more important than the witnesses... Abdel-Rahman was installed as chief judge after his predecessor resigned amid complaints he was not doing enough to rein in Saddam's frequent courtroom outbursts. The stormy session was sure to increase doubts over the trial's fairness — a vital concern in a nation that is trying to reconcile its Sunni Arab minority, which dominated Iraq under Saddam, and the Shiite Muslim majority that now controls the government. I still, after all these years, find it surprising that "fairness" and "justice" manage to diverge so widely in courtrooms. That's probably a result of my substandard education. Sunday's proceedings, the first in over a month, disintegrated almost immediately into shouting and insults. First, co-defendant Barzan Ibrahim was pulled out by guards after he stood and called the court "the daughter of a whore," while Saddam shouted "down with traitors" and "down with the Americans." Then Abdel-Rahman, a Kurd, threw out a defense attorneys for arguing with him. The rest of the defense team stormed out in protest as the judge shouted after after them, "Any lawyer who walks out will not be allowed back into this courtroom." Abdel-Rahman appointed four new defense lawyers. But Saddam stood and rejected them. Holding a copy of the Quran and other papers under his arm, he said he wanted to leave. After an argument with the judge — during which guards pushed Saddam back into his chair — guards escorted the former Iraqi leader out of the room. Two other defendants also rejected their new lawyers and were allowed to leave. The proceedings then resumed with only four of the eight defendants present, and none of their original lawyers.

Link

Warning: Undefined property: stdClass::$T in /data/rantburg.com/www/pgrecentorg.php on line 132
-11 More