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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

New Saddam Judge to Stay on Despite Claims: Court

2006-01-20

The tribunal trying Saddam Hussein said yesterday its new chief judge would preside over the next session on Jan. 24, despite calls for him to be barred for suspected links to Saddam’s Baath party. An official of the independent Debaathification Commission told Reuters on Wednesday Sayeed Al-Hamashi was the subject of an inquiry and should be removed from his post. The allegations threw the US-sponsored court into fresh confusion after the resignation last week of chief judge Rizgar Amin, a Kurd, who quit in protest at political interference. Hamashi, Amin’s deputy, was promoted to the top job. He has denied any links to the Baath party and his fellow judges appeared to rally around him yesterday to defend his record. Tribunal spokesman Judge Raid Jouhi said the judges in the Saddam trial had been carefully selected for their professionalism and integrity. “The judges are well known and their history is also well known and they are professionals. So far it is Judge Hamashi who is going to head the next session,” he told Reuters.

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Iraq

Government seeks to stop Saddam judge quitting

2006-01-16

Iraqi officials were trying to persuade the chief judge in the trial of Saddam Hussein not to resign on Sunday after he announced he would quit in protest at government interference with the court. "The court has dispatched a senior judge today to visit him and try to dissuade him from resigning," one of the trial prosecutors, Mumkidh Taklif Fatlawi, said. "They are afraid of the damage this will do to the credibility of the tribunal." Quoting an official statement to prosecutors from the court administration, he told Reuters: "Judge Rizgar Amin has tendered his resignation and according to the tribunal statutes it was referred to the Cabinet. The matter is still undecided." The killings of two defence lawyers have already prompted questions over the US-backed decision to hold the trial in the midst of bitter sectarian and ethnic conflict. A source close to Amin told Reuters officials were visiting him in his Kurdish home city of Suleimaniyah and trying to talk him out of quitting but he was reluctant to stay because Shiite leaders had criticised him for being "soft" on Saddam in court. "He tendered his resignation to the court a few days ago ... I am not sure if he will go back on his decision," said the source. "He had complaints from the government that he was being too soft in dealing with Saddam. They want things to go faster." The judge planned to explain his reasons for resigning after chairing the next hearing on January 24, the source said.

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Iraq

Saddam trial judge plans to quit

2006-01-14

SULAIMANIYA, Iraq (Reuters) - The chief judge in the trial of Saddam Hussein plans to step down, a source close to the judge told Reuters on Friday, in a development that could throw an already turbulent process into further disarray. "He wants to withdraw," the source said of Rizgar Amin, who is to preside over the next hearing on January 24. "He will oversee the next sitting and then announce his reasons for withdrawing." Asked why the Kurdish judge, based in the northern city of Sulaimaniya, wanted to pull out of a trial that has made his face familiar around the world during long days of television coverage, he would say only: "It is too difficult." Somebody getting to him? The killing of two defense lawyers has already highlighted problems with the process in a country mired in a virtual civil war that pits Saddam's fellow minority Sunni Arabs against a U.S.-backed government run by Shi'ite Muslims and ethnic Kurds intent on hanging a man they say massacred their peoples. Kidnapping and murder have become commonplace and human rights groups have questioned the wisdom of pushing ahead with a trial in Baghdad rather than an international process in The Hague or elsewhere. There is already a precedent in the trial, which opened on October 19, for replacing one of the panel of five judges, so in principle Amin's departure may cause little upset; a judge quit to avoid a potential conflict of interest over one of the eight defendants' alleged role in the death of a relative. But in practice, the resignation of the most visible face of the court outside of the dock may be an embarrassment for the Iraqi government and U.S. officials keen to show the world that Iraqis are capable of giving their former leader a fair trial. Amin, 48, told Reuters in November that his family worried about him and he had taken on two bodyguards after pressure from friends. But he stressed: "A judge should never be afraid because he defends justice and the law." Only one other of the five judges on the panel has allowed himself to be seen on camera and many of the witnesses called so far to testify to crimes against humanity committed against over 140 Shi'ite men from the town of Dujail have spoken behind a screen with their voices distorted to avoid retribution.

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