New session of Saddam trial ends amid chaos
11/10/2006 16:30
The yesterday session of trial of Saddam Hussein and his aides on charge
of genocide ended amid chaos, in which the chief judge ejected the deposed
leader and a co-defendant punched a guard and denounced prosecutors as pimps and
traitors.
Chief Judge Muhammed Ureybi ordered Saddam to leave the courtroom
after cutting off his microphone when he began an improvised speech after the
first Kurdish witness finished her testimony.
It was the fourth time in the
last five sessions that Saddam had been ejected.
"Fight them and God will
punish them," Saddam inaugurated his speech after hearing the first Kurdish
woman witness' testimony, which prompted Ureybi to order him out of the
court.
During the pandemonium, the judge ordered out Saddam's co- defendant
and former military commander Hussein Rasheed who called the prosecutors "pimps"
and "traitors." Rasheed then punched a guard as he was escorted out.
Saddam's
cousin, Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as "Chemical Ali," then shouted "why don't
you sentence us now. I wish to be executed and finish with this court."
The
move prompted other codefendants to argue with the judge who ordered them
out.
Ureybi ordered a closed session after Rasheed was escorted by guards
from the courtroom. When proceedings resumed more than an hour later, the dock
was empty.
Since Ureybi presided over the trial after replacing Abdullah
al-Amiri, who was accused of being biased toward the defendants, original
defense lawyers have been boycotting the court and the defendants were
represented only by court-appointed lawyers.
Saddam and his six codefendants
face charges of genocide for their role in Anfal (Spoils of War) military
campaign against Iraq 's Kurds in the 1980s, which the chief prosecutor said
left some 182,000 people dead or missing.
In Tuesday's session, the court
started hearing a woman who declined to identify herself and spoke from behind a
curtain. She made her complaints against Saddam and officials of his regime who
were involved in the Anfal and demanded compensation.
"The Iraqi forces
pounded our village in April 1987, forcing us to hide in nearby mountains which
were later surrounded by the Iraqi army," said the woman, the 14th complainer in
the Anfal case.
"In the detention camp of Debis in Kirkuk, several masked
soldiers sprayed us with unknown substance, which caused spreading diseases like
whooping cough among children, and many of them died of the diseases later," she
said.
"Six months later we were released by the Iraqi army, only to find all
family members disappeared for good," she added.
A second witness who spoke
anonymously told the court that rape was frequent in detention camps and many
detainees died during their captivity, their bodies were eaten by dogs.
The
third witness said she had had no idea about the fate of her father and brothers
since the Operation Anfal in 1987 and 1988.
"The Iraqi troops were detaining
all the people on their way near the villages they attack," she said.
She
recalled misery and troubles she faced during her detention. "During our
detention we suffered hunger, thirst and diseases, which killed many people,
including children," she said.
The fourth witness, also a woman, made her
complaints against Saddam and Ali Hassan al-Majid and demanded compensation,
saying that her family fled into nearby mountains after Iraqi artillery and
aircraft pounded their village.
"After the artillery pounding, warplanes
bombed the area, which caused heavy smoke, and we later learned that they were
chemical weapons," she said.
She said that the fate of her husband and three
of her relatives remained unknown till now.
After hearing the testimonies,
Ureybi adjourned the session until Wednesday.
Saddam is also awaiting a
possible death sentence verdict for a separate case involving killing of some
148 Shiites.
All the main charges in Anfal carry death
penalty.
xinhua
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