....During the trial, three defence lawyers were killed and another fled abroad. More than 30 witnesses were too intimidated to come to court. Of those who did, many gave evidence from behind screens or had their voices disguised electronically. The sessions were dogged by procedural wrangling and technical faults, and repeatedly disrupted by anti-American tirades, hunger strikes, and walkouts and boycotts from an obstreperous Saddam and his defence team, who frequently complained that they were not being given access to vital documents.It seemed politics were at a maximum and legalities at a minimum. If the new Iraqi authorities hadn't intended a show trial, then the former leader and his co-defendants were intent on making it one.Saddam the performer took his last chance to redeem himself in the eyes of his dwindling band of loyalists - ably supported by a cast of his former cronies. Barzan, his half-brother took, to wearing his pyjamas in court, sitting defiantly with his back to the judges. Tariq Aziz, Saddam's well- known former international envoy, delivered his courtroom encomium to his ex-boss in what appeared to be a hospital gown.As the chaos spread, the international community rapidly lost confidence. The proceedings were repeatedly criticised by prominent human rights groups and bodies such as the UN, which described them as "incompatible" with standards of international justice.The disruptive tactics meanwhile had Iraq's new leaders and US officials on edge. They weighed in from the sidelines, publicly criticising the judge for being too tolerant of the defence's antics, and urging a speeding up of the whole process.The brunt of their ire, and of Saddam's truculence, was borne by the chief judge, Rizgar Mohammed Amin.Speaking to the Guardian Judge Rizgar recalled the enormous pressures surrounding the trial - pressures that are thought to have eventually caused his resignation in January this year - although he declined to give the exact reasons why he left his post.As the trial progressed, the sniping increased. The prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, said repeatedly that he favoured Saddam's swift execution. But Judge Rizgar remained unmoved. "I did my job. Others are free to think what they want," he said.He was subsequently replaced by another Kurdish judge, Rauf Abdel Rahman, whose instantly more assertive approach won praise from some Iraqis, but raised further questions about the court's impartiality.
Indeed, as the case proceeded, the unruliness and defiance from Saddam and his team worsened. Saddam would regularly denounce the US and Iraq's new rulers. At one point he told the judge to "go to hell" - and got away with it.More than 80 Iraqis testified over 40 court sessions. Ahmed Hassan Mohammed was the first to take the stand. He gave a graphic account of torture at the hands of the Iraqi secret police. He described how after the assassination attempt in Dujail, north of Baghdad, when Saddam's motorcade was attacked as it was passing through, women and children were tortured."People who were arrested were taken to prison and most of them were killed there. The scene was frightening. Even women with babies were arrested," Mr Mohammed said.
He alleged that the torture equipment included a mincing machine that was sometimes fed with living human bodies.The prosecution also produced a wealth of documents from the previous regime, which they claimed proved Saddam's guilt. As the trial drew to a close Saddam appeared to acknowledge that he had signed the death warrants for the men in Dujail, but said it was his constitutional right as a president, and that he had been defending Iraq from the Iranian-sponsored militants of the Dawa party who had organised the ambush on his motorcade.
"The responsibility was mine and mine alone," he told the court. http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1940096,00.html |