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They would take one of us away and he'd return in a sheet, dripping in blood
(Filed: 22/12/2005) A brave Iraqi takes the stand and tells how seven of his brothers were tortured and killed 'on Saddam's orders'. Adrian Blomfield reports It was the first time since he went on trial that Saddam Hussein seemed lost for words.
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Ali Hassan al-Haidari braves the courtroom as Saddam listens
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Gone were the histrionics and bluster of previous court appearances, when the former dictator upstaged everyone from judge to fellow defendants with his interruptions and grandstanding. Instead the limelight was taken by a softly spoken witness who comported himself in every way Saddam has not since he took to the dock. Ali Hassan al-Haidari was dignified, erudite, compelling - and brave. While the vast majority of other witnesses have so far chosen - understandably so - to testify behind a curtain, sometimes with their voices distorted, Mr Haidari stood just feet away from the once most feared man in Iraq. Saddam seemed to shrink beside him. He sucked his glasses, and occasionally took notes. Much of the time he seemed to be doodling. It was as though he could not meet the eyes of his accuser. Dressed almost identically to Saddam in a brown suit and a white shirt, Mr Haidari recalled the 1982 massacre at Dujail, where Saddam is accused of orchestrating the mass reprisals in retaliation for an alleged attempt on his life. Mr Haidari, who was only 14 at the time, told how he and all 43 members of his family were rounded up and taken to the Ba'ath party headquarters in Dujail.
"I saw my brother being tortured in front of my eyes," he said, looking straight at Saddam. "I was terrified. They would take one of us away and he would return in a sheet, dripping in blood." Seven of his brothers were executed, he testified. Like so many Iraqis, he has no idea, he said, where they were buried. The killings at Dujail were by no means the worst of the atrocities that Saddam and his henchmen are alleged to have orchestrated. In comparison to the massacre of thousands at a time in the Kurdish north or the Shia south, only 147 people were killed. But prosecutors say the evidence in Dujail was easier to compile and have promised that there will be more charges brought against the former president. Mr Haidari told the court that he was taken to a prison in Baghdad where children even younger than he, some only nine years old, were held in terrible conditions. Beatings and electric shocks were regularly administered. Some of his fellow prisoners had the skin ripped from their bodies. "I cannot express all that suffering and pain that we suffered in the 70 days inside.'' Only once did Saddam try to interrupt his testimony, demanding to be given a 10-minute recess to pray. The Kurdish judge, Rizgar Amin, refused. Judging by previous occasions when he did not get his own way, Saddam would have been expected to argue. Instead, he shifted in his seat to face Mecca and prayed, clutching in his hand a Koran. Why Saddam chose to be so pliant is unclear, but perhaps he realised that the theatrics that served him on previous days would look particularly petulant when compared with the decorum displayed by Mr Haidari. The more Saddam seemed to shrink, the bolder the witness became. "I hold Saddam responsible for detaining me and my family and ruining my future," he said. Saddam's half-brother and co-accused showed no such restraint. Barzan al-Tikriti leapt to his feet several times to harangue Mr Haidari, calling him "a dog" and his dead brothers "rotten dog". After the lunch recess another witness accused Barzan, Saddam's former spy chief, of eating grapes as he was tortured. After repeated beatings, he recalled begging for death. Barzan interjected to deny the accusations, insisting that his hands were ''as clean as Moses''. Saddam and his co-accused face the death penalty if convicted. |
