Posted on 01/29/2006 8:15:24 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -
Raouf Rasheed Abdel-Rahman is a career judge known for efficiency and strict adherence to the law, a native of the Kurdish town where 5,000 died in a gas attack allegedly ordered by Saddam Hussein.
Colleagues call him sober, straight-talking and tough.
"He is a serious and honest person," said Omar Abdel-Rahman, a lawyer who worked with the judge in the 1970s. "He is a man of principles, but sometimes he gets angry quickly."
That no-nonsense style was on dramatic display Sunday as judge Abdel-Rahman took the helm of Saddam's trial, tossing out those he considered unruly and admonishing one protesting defendant: You think courts were better under Saddam?
It was a far cry from Abdel-Rahman's predecessor as chief jurist, a fellow Kurd who addressed Saddam and his seven co-defendants with the Arabic honorific "sayed" - or "sir" - and tolerated the outbursts of Saddam and his more belligerent half brother and former intelligence chief, Barzan Ibrahim.
In the trial's opening minutes, Abdel-Rahman told one defense lawyer, "I am speaking to you in clear and straight forward Arabic: Don't interrupt me."
Soon afterward, the lawyer, Jordanian Salih al-Armouti, was taken out of the court for shouting at the judge.
"Can you do this in your own courts in your country?" Abdel-Rahman asked him.
The judge graduated from Baghdad University in 1963 and is married with three children. His Arabic, a second language for most of Iraq's Kurds, is almost flawless.
Even the new judge's appearance - bald and clean-shaven - is a contrast to his predecessor, Rizgar Mohammed Amin, whose silver hair and mustache gave him a grandfatherly look.
Abdel-Rahman's new style was obvious soon after the session opened. After a half hour of shouting, obscenities and even a scuffle, half the case's eight defendants and the entire defense team were gone - either thrown out or walking out in protest.
Undaunted, Abdel-Rahman appointed new defense lawyers and sat back to listen to the testimony of three prosecution witnesses.
The four remaining defendants sat mostly quiet for the remainder of the trial. When they objected to parts of the testimony, Abdel-Rahman allowed them to speak, but made them keep it short.
Abdel-Rahman's effort to impose his authority on the court never let up.
He dismissed one witness with an abrupt "Go, may Allah be with you." He did not seem to have a soft spot for the chief prosecutor either, shooting him a venomous look as he argued a technical point and throwing his head back in despair.
When Saddam's co-defendant and former deputy, Taha Yassin Ramadan, told the judge that he would not stay without his lawyer, Abdel-Rahman interrupted him.
"You were in office all these years of the regime, were the courts at that time like this one?" he asked.
"Better than this, and the courts were legitimate and established according to the state's law," Ramadan replied defiantly, then said he wished to leave.
The judge turned to the guards and said: "Take him away."
Abdel-Rahman pulled no punches with Saddam either.
When Saddam told him that he "regretted" the chaos in the courtroom, Abdel-Rahman retorted, "Keep your regrets to yourself." When Saddam reminded him later that he was Iraq's leader for 35 years, Abdel-Rahman said he was merely a "defendant" now.
Amin, his predecessor, faced a flurry of criticism for not doing enough to rein in Saddam and Ibrahim. He quit Jan. 15 - a decision that drew accusations of political interference in a trial that has polarized this diverse nation of 27 million.
On Sunday, Amin appeared to have no regrets.
"I am happy that I am no longer part of this trial," he told The Associated Press from his home in the Kurdish city of Sulaimaniyah, 160 miles northeast of Baghdad. "I am happy to watch it on television while sitting in my house."
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Associated Press reporters Yahya Barzanji in Sulaimaniyah, Qassim Abdul-Zahra, Sameer N. Yacoub and Sinan Salaheddin in Baghdad and Omar Sinan in Cairo contributed to this report.
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Here's to a Judge Roy Bean level performance by the new Judge. ;-)
Yes, let's see some articles backing the judge, instead of a lot of panicking as though Sadaam caused "chaos" by walking out. Sadaam will hang soon enough.
Hang him high and soon!
This Judge sounds like an improvement!
If it were Judge Roy Bean, Saddam and henchmen would be dead and the defense team would be walking out of town.
Glad to see the judge has a spine.
Today's performance was embarrassing though. Allowing Saddam to get up and leave? HELL NO. Chain him down to the floor like a dog and make him listen.
I think he will make a fine judge. Time for SH to get down off his high horse and become what he is. A criminal.
Never heard remarks about Ted Kennedy.
Good for this judge. Is this a jury trial?
If he were a tough judge he should have ordered Sadman to have a ball gag installed and tied to the chair. As for the others involved they should get the same.
As for the lawyers, nonsence from them, should get them contempt time in abu grib.
That seems to me a strange interchange. Didn't this judge serve in the previous Iraqi courts? If so, even for a rhetorical question, it still seems an odd one.
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