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Iraq

Rumor that Saddam's judge killed by ISIL and Duri

2014-06-26

A bad thing as the Quds guys were also on the ground during the ethnic cleansing in the past and worked together with the Shia JAM/Special Groups guys---we picked up eight of them but Malaki was adamant that we turn them over which we did because "we felt we could not damage the relationship"---basically we were played by Malaki. This was being reported out of Baghdad but carried in the Saudi Online news---two things stuck me---the claim that al Duri is the mastermind between the current offensive and the killing of the Iraqi Kurdish judge who sentenced Saddam to death. That will not set well with the Kurds although it appears he was killed in Baghdad not in the north. Noticed that al Duri has his own Facebook page. Baghdad: Iraqi militant group ISIL has killed the judge who ordered Saddam Hussain's verdict of death-by-hanging in 2006, several Arab news media reported on Tuesday. Reports claim that Kurdish judge Raouf Abdul Rahman was executed by the militants in retaliation to Saddam's hanging. The judge was earlier reported to have been kidnapped by the militants last week on June 16. Although the Iraqi government has not confirmed the news, several media reports cited at least two important Facebook posts, confirming the report. One of the FB posts cited, is that of Jordanian MP Khalil Attiehq who wrote that Judge Rahman, who had headed the Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal during Saddam's trial in 2006, was arrested and sentenced to death in revenge for the tyrant's death. The Jordanian MP added in his Facebook post that the judge attempted to escape by donning dancers' uniform but was caught and killed by the ISIS fighters. Another Facebook post confirming the judge's execution by militants is that of Izzat Ibrahim Al-Douri, who was Saddam's former deputy and later emerged as a key figure among the militants. Al-Douri is reportedly one of the masterminds behind the latest ISIS offensive in Iraq. Judge Raouf Abdul Rahman was born in the Kurdish town of Halabja, and was appointed the head of the five-member bench overseeing Saddam's trial in 2006 after the previous judge Rizgar Amin was criticized for being soft on the dictator.

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Iraq

Saddam trial judge ejects Ramsey Clark

2006-11-05

Iraqis Roar as Officials Drag Ramsey Clark From Court! BAGHDAD, Nov 5 (Reuters) - The judge presiding over the trial of Saddam Hussein and seven others on charges of crimes against humanity ejected former U.S. attorney general Ramsey Clark from the court on Sunday for insulting the tribunal. Clark, who heads an international team of lawyers involved in the defence, was ejected at the start of a hearing at which Saddam and two aides were convicted and sentenced to death. The judge, Raouf Abdul Rahman, ejected Clark because he had sent a memo to Abdul Rahman including the accusation that the tribunal was making "a mockery of justice". The judge told him in Arabic: "No, you are the mockery ... get him out, out." Abdul Rahman then shouted in English: "Out! Out!" "You come from America and ridicule the Iraqi people," he said.

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Iraq

Hussein: Shoot me if found guilty

2006-07-26

Saddam Hussein has asked the court in his trial in Baghdad to execute him by firing squad -- "not by hanging as a common criminal" -- if it convicts him of all charges and sentences him to death. So for your last meal, you'd prefer lead to rope? Noted. The former Iraqi leader said he was forcibly taken into court in the Irai capital against his will Wednesday morning from a hospital where he was being treated for the effects of a hunger strike. Thinner but combative, Hussein was making his first appearance in court since his hunger strike and hospitalization. He again rejected the tribunal as an agent of the U.S. occupation. Hussein's defense lawyers were not in court Wednesday as they continued a boycott started last month after one of them was kidnapped and killed. Among other things, they demanded increased security for the defense team. Wednesday's session began with a 20-minute lecture by Hussein to the judges in which he complained that he was removed from his hospital bed where he was receiving nourishment through an IV and nasal feeding tube for the past three days. He said he has not eaten since he started a hunger strike on July 8. "The Americans brought me here against my will," Hussein said. He said he did not physically resist them since he is not a young man. Chief Judge Raouf Abdul Rahman read a medical report saying Hussein was fit to appear in court. Hussein questioned why the court has not met his lawyers demands for more security. "Half of them have been killed," he said. In fact, three defense lawyers have died since the trial started last October, but only one worked directly for Hussein. At the end of his speech -- in which Hussein looked at his court-appointed lawyer and told him he was "an enemy of the people -- the former Iraqi leader told the judges "I refuse to stand in front of this court. Take whatever measures you want." He then sat down and listened quietly as that court-appointed lawyer began to deliver a closing argument on his behalf.

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Iraq

Uproar in court as judge ejects Saddam lawyer

2006-05-23

Iraqi guards at Saddam Hussein's trial manhandled a defense lawyer from the court on Monday before witnesses, including one of the former president's half-brothers, gave testimony for some of his co-defendants. Lebanese attorney Bushra Khalil, a vocal presence in previous televised appearances for the defense, yelled in protest and threw off her black court robe. "Are you a lawyer or a gang boss?" Judge Raouf Abdul Rahman barked at Khalil, who slapped the hand of a guard as he dragged her out of the chamber. "A gang boss. Why do you ask?" At the start of the hearing, Khalil had objected to her ejection from court in a previous session. After the argument with Abdul Rahman rose in pitch, he ordered her removed from court and described her behavior as "an insult to justice". Amid the clamor, Saddam stood to object and declared: "I am the president of Iraq", only to be told sharply by Abdul Rahman: "No you are a defendant." Saddam's half-brother Sabbawi Ibrahim al-Tikriti appeared as a witness to speak in defense of his own full brother Barzan al-Tikriti, Saddam's former intelligence chief. Sabbawi said he would also later testify for Saddam. He described himself as a "presidential adviser until April 9, 2003" -- the day Saddam fled U.S. forces invading Baghdad. Sabbawi, like his brothers Barzan and Watban, has been in U.S. custody. The three brothers are sons of Saddam's mother's second marriage.

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Iraq

Trial adjourned as Saddam refuses to give handwriting samples

2006-04-13

The trial of ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussain resumed on Wednesday for a few minutes and then was adjourned until April 17. No defendants were present due to procedural reasons. The judge Raouf Abdul Rahman said the purpose of the session was to ask investigative criminal experts to verify the signatures of Saddam and most of his co-accused, who claimed that prosecution documents were forged. Saddam Hussain and his half brother Barzan Al Tikriti refused to provide the court with handwriting samples for experts to authenticate signatures said to be theirs on key documents in their trial, the chief judge said. Handwriting experts had been due to testify on Tuesday in the trial, but they did not show up at court, forcing chief judge to adjourn until Monday after a session that lasted only about five minutes. Prosecutors told the judge that the analysts had not yet finished their work.

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