Post by Anja Nieser on Sept 13, 2006 16:46:08 GMT -5
Saddam Trial Prosecutor Demands Judge Quit
The lead prosecutor in Saddam Hussein's genocide trial demanded on
Wednesday that the chief judge resign for being too soft on the former
Iraqi leader, who has threatened to "crush the heads'' of his accusers.
"The defendants have gone too far with unacceptable expressions and words.
The defendants have uttered clear threats. The chief prosecutor's office
requests the judge step down from this case,'' Munqith al-Faroon said,
adding the court had become a "political forum'' for Saddam and six
co-accused.
Dismissing the request, chief judge Abdullah al-Amiri defended his
approach to Saddam's trial for genocide against the Kurds by recalling how
a successor to the Prophet Mohammad allowed the accused to voice their
opinions.
He also cited his 25 years of experience.
"The judge should coordinate and make peace so nobody takes advantage of
his fairness,'' he replied before calling out the 1st witnesses in the
third hearing this week.
On Tuesday, Saddam raged against ``agents of Iran and Zionism'' after
civil attorneys said Kurdish rebels were fighting against his
``dictatorship and tyranny.''
Faroon threatened to walk out of Tuesday's session after he was repeatedly
denied permission to speak. That session also saw Saddam calling "coward''
a witness who had taunted the toppled leader for being "in a cage.''
Saddam was uncharacteristically quiet on Wednesday and followed the
proceedings clutching a Koran.
Amiri, keen to push the trial forward, has largely avoided confrontations
with the defendants and their lawyers in a bid to avoid the delays seen in
the 1st Saddam trial, in which the toppled leader frequently used the
televised sessions to slam the U.S. occupation and to urge his followers
to revolt.
Saddam, 69, his cousin, Ali Hassan al-Majeed, known as ''Chemical Ali,''
and 5 other former commanders also face charges of war crimes and crimes
against humanity for their role in the 1988 Anfal campaign -- Spoils of
War -- that prosecutors said left 182,000 ethnic Kurds dead or missing.
Stopping short of demanding the judge's resignation, a civil attorney
whose name has been kept secret to avoid retaliation, said on Wednesday
that Saddam's words "injured the victims of Anfal.'' Saddam has defended
his policy of crushing Kurdish rebels in the 1980s as his Sunni-led
government fought a war against Shi'ite Iran.
Former Kurdish peshmerga fighter Omer Othmam Mahommed, one of the
witnesses who testified on Wednesday, told the court how warplanes bombed
his village and surrounding mountains with chemical weapons in March of
1988.
"I saw some 2,000 to 3,000 sheep dead. The shepherd also died in the
attack,'' he said.
A verdict is expected next month on whether Saddam is guilty of crimes
against humanity over the killing of 148 Shi'ite men following a 1982
assassination attempt against him.
(source: Reuters)
The lead prosecutor in Saddam Hussein's genocide trial demanded on
Wednesday that the chief judge resign for being too soft on the former
Iraqi leader, who has threatened to "crush the heads'' of his accusers.
"The defendants have gone too far with unacceptable expressions and words.
The defendants have uttered clear threats. The chief prosecutor's office
requests the judge step down from this case,'' Munqith al-Faroon said,
adding the court had become a "political forum'' for Saddam and six
co-accused.
Dismissing the request, chief judge Abdullah al-Amiri defended his
approach to Saddam's trial for genocide against the Kurds by recalling how
a successor to the Prophet Mohammad allowed the accused to voice their
opinions.
He also cited his 25 years of experience.
"The judge should coordinate and make peace so nobody takes advantage of
his fairness,'' he replied before calling out the 1st witnesses in the
third hearing this week.
On Tuesday, Saddam raged against ``agents of Iran and Zionism'' after
civil attorneys said Kurdish rebels were fighting against his
``dictatorship and tyranny.''
Faroon threatened to walk out of Tuesday's session after he was repeatedly
denied permission to speak. That session also saw Saddam calling "coward''
a witness who had taunted the toppled leader for being "in a cage.''
Saddam was uncharacteristically quiet on Wednesday and followed the
proceedings clutching a Koran.
Amiri, keen to push the trial forward, has largely avoided confrontations
with the defendants and their lawyers in a bid to avoid the delays seen in
the 1st Saddam trial, in which the toppled leader frequently used the
televised sessions to slam the U.S. occupation and to urge his followers
to revolt.
Saddam, 69, his cousin, Ali Hassan al-Majeed, known as ''Chemical Ali,''
and 5 other former commanders also face charges of war crimes and crimes
against humanity for their role in the 1988 Anfal campaign -- Spoils of
War -- that prosecutors said left 182,000 ethnic Kurds dead or missing.
Stopping short of demanding the judge's resignation, a civil attorney
whose name has been kept secret to avoid retaliation, said on Wednesday
that Saddam's words "injured the victims of Anfal.'' Saddam has defended
his policy of crushing Kurdish rebels in the 1980s as his Sunni-led
government fought a war against Shi'ite Iran.
Former Kurdish peshmerga fighter Omer Othmam Mahommed, one of the
witnesses who testified on Wednesday, told the court how warplanes bombed
his village and surrounding mountains with chemical weapons in March of
1988.
"I saw some 2,000 to 3,000 sheep dead. The shepherd also died in the
attack,'' he said.
A verdict is expected next month on whether Saddam is guilty of crimes
against humanity over the killing of 148 Shi'ite men following a 1982
assassination attempt against him.
(source: Reuters)