Posted on 02/12/2006 3:41:19 PM PST by Aussie Dasher
SADDAM Hussein appears headed for a showdown tomorrow with the court trying him, after the chief prosecutor said the former Iraqi leader will be forced to attend if he persists in boycotting proceedings.
Saddam, whose trial for crimes against humanity resumes tomorrow following an 11-day break, did not turn up for the last two hearings after he and several of his seven co-accused staged a walkout on January 29.
But chief prosecutor Ja'afar Moussawi signalled today the court had lost patience with Saddam and his co-defendants, who include his half-brother and former top aides.
"Tomorrow they will attend the trial. If they refuse they will be forced. The court has the authority," he said.
He also disclosed that six former high-ranking members of Saddam's government would testify during this week's two-day hearing, although he declined to name them. .
It was not clear whether Saddam planned to attend tomorrow's hearing. His defence lawyers have not met him since they stormed out of the court on January 29 after clashing with new chief judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman. Saddam has refused court-appointed counsel.
The defence team, headed by Khalil Dulaimi, walked out after the judge ejected a member of the team and a defendant for refusing to be quiet. They have refused to return to the US-sponsored court until certain demands are met, including the removal of the judge, whom they accuse of bias.
Judge Abdel Rahman has taken a no-nonsense approach in his handling of Saddam, after his predecessor resigned amid accusations that he had been too lenient on the former president, allowing him to make lengthy tirades.
The trial has been marred by delays, the murders of two defence counsel, the resignation of chief judge Rizgar Amin, who complained of government interference, and the replacement of his deputy after he was accused of belonging to Saddam's ousted Baath party.
An application lodged by Saddam's defence team with Iraq's Bar Association threatens further complications. It seeks the removal of the court-appointed lawyers representing Saddam and his fellow defendants in the absence of their chosen counsel.
It argues that the lawyers, as members of the Tribunal Defence Office, are government employees and so are banned under Bar Association rules from practising law in a courtroom.
"Definitely it's against Bar Law for a government employee to also work as a lawyer in a courtroom," Thia al-Sadi, secretary general of the Iraqi Bar Association, said, adding that the bar council would rule on the application tomorrow.
New York-based Human Rights Watch expressed concern at the weekend about the quality of the court-appointed lawyers, and the fact that they had been imposed on Saddam and his aides against their will.
"A trial without a vigorous and properly prepared defence will not only violate basic fair trial guarantees, it will look like a sham. In the insecurity and political uncertainty ... the Iraqi High Tribunal cannot afford an unfair trial," the rights watchdog said in a briefing paper.
The trial was briefly thrown into confusion today when Mr Dulaimi and his deputy Khamis al-Aubedi first said Saddam and his co-accused planned to go on a hunger strike tomorrow but then retracted the statement.
"We have now checked and it seems almost certain that the president no longer plans a hunger strike at least tomorrow as we thought earlier ... though some of his colleagues may," Mr Dulaimi said in Amman.
A US official said there had been "no reports of anything abnormal" in the detention centre where the defendants are being held.
Saddam and his co-accused are charged with killing 148 men from the Shiite town of Dujail in reprisal for a bid to assassinate Saddam there in 1982.
Will he be brought in, bound and gagged?
I hope so.
He shall see, at least partially, what it feels like. But, unfortunately, he won't be fed into the wood chipper.
At least, not yet.
Gag, shackle and drag the bastard into court on a leash....
We really should have shot the bastard a LONG time ago -- along with his co-defendents..
Semper Fi
we need to bind him like hanible leckter.
My Daddy used to say....."Some people just need killin'". I believe this is one of those special times. Need to quit wasting time and money on this clown. Use a 2 cent plug to put him out of our misery.
Amen.
Semper Fi
Semper Fi to you too! Love the web page...... and I agree. :)
<< Gag, shackle and drag the bastard into court on a leash ....
We really should have shot the bastard a LONG time ago -- along with his co-defendents..
Semper Fi >>
That's saying it Right, A-D; Rat.
The idea that this crazy bloody murderer of perhaps two million Iraqis, Iranians, Kuwaitis and others might be afforded the further insult to his every victim, of the dignity of the presumption of innocence, is an obscenity.
Expeditiously convict the bastard and his every henchman and every bit as as expeditiously execute their sentences.
Let justice not only be done but be seen to be done.
Gotyah sixes, Rat.
Per ardua ad astra! -- Brian
Whether Saddam likes it or not, he’ll have to show up for his hanging.
We really should have shot the bastard a LONG time ago -- along with his co-defendents.. >>>>>>>>>>>>
Naaahhh, too easy, hang him up by his ankles with the longest strands of hair just brushing the top of a fire ant bed and leave him there. Of course, I could come up with something really mean, if you prefer.
Hannibal Lechter?
"I ate his liver with a nice Chianti" Lechter?
Who could be so hungry for revenge as to want to eat Hussein's bulging liver?
Hundreds of thousands.
The WMD questions could have been answered by Saddam, if he had been properly interrogated.
Saddam and Tikriti are being their usual immature, imperious obnoxious selves, but the judge is very calmly laying down the law with them. He even managed to shut Tikriti up for a few mintues.
This judge may be able to pull this off.
Fingers crossed. ;-)
<< Naaahhh, too easy, hang him up by his ankles with the longest strands of hair just brushing the top of a fire ant bed and leave him there. Of course, I could come up with something really mean, if you prefer. >>
Cut his hair first. To give him a while to think about what's gunna happen when it's a bit longer?
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