Saddam faces new trial 
Baghdad, April 4
The court trying Saddam Hussein said today that charges that the former Iraqi leader committed genocide against Kurds had been handed to the prosecution, paving the way for a new trial. 

“We declare the investigations are completed in the case, called the Anfal campaign in which thousands of men and women were killed. The accused are being transferred to the criminal court,” said court spokesman Raid Jouhi. 

Saddam’s co-accused will include his cousin Ali Hassan al-Majeed, known as ‘’Chemical Ali’’, for his role in a poison gas attack against the Kurdish village of Halabja in 1988 that killed 5,000 people.

Prosecutors say Saddam could face trial on the new charges as early as next month. The hearings could run in parallel to the existing trial.
 

130 killed in Iraq sectarian clash
Friday, February 24, 2006
BAGHDAD, FEBRUARY 23: Gunmen have killed around 130 people in Iraq in sectarian violence that flared amid reprisal attacks on Sunni mosques after the bombing of a revered Shi’ite shrine, officials said today. 
Amid warnings that the violence could spiral further out of control, Iraqi political leaders went into an emergency meeting with President Jalal Talabani today. 
The bloodshed is likely to complicate the task of Shi’ite and Sunni political leaders who have pledged to set up a government of national unity in the wake of the December elections that illustrated a deep sectarian split in Iraq. 
In today’s violence, eight Iraqi soldiers were killed and nearly a dozen people were wounded in an attack on a Sunni mosque in Baqouba. 

Eighty bullet-ridden corpses were brought to the Baghdad morgue between yesterday afternoon and this morning, the deputy director of the morgue, Doctor Kais Mohammed said. 

‘‘I’ve only been able to carry out autopsies on 25 of them,’’ he said. The bodies, which had been dumped in Baghdad and its suburbs, could not be identified. 

Another 47 bodies of men shot to death were discovered along with 10 burned out cars alongside a road near Nahrawan, southeast of Baghdad, police said. 

The corpses were found near a brick factory and it was not immediately known if the victims were workers from the factory. 

Iraq has already placed its security forces on high alert and cancelled all leave. The night curfew in Baghdad was also brought forward yesterday. 

The upsurge in the killings came after suspected Al Qaeda-linked militants yesterday morning bombed the 1,000-year-old Imam Ali al Hadi mausoleum, one of the countries’ main Shi’ite shrines, in Samarra, north of Baghdad. 

Early today the police also reported finding the bodies of three Iraqi journalists working for Dubai-based Arabiya TV who were kidnapped near Samarra last evening while reporting on the shrine bombing. ‘‘The bodies of the presenter Atwar Bahjat, of cameraman Adnan Abdallah and of soundman Khaled Mohsen were found early this morning,” police said. 
Gunmen also stormed a prison in Basra and lynched 10 suspected Sunni militants.
 
 

Saddam had warned US of terror attack
Washington, February 16, 2006
Saddam Hussein told aides he warned America before 1990 that terrorists would launch a huge strike on US soil.

According to secret tapes obtained by ABC News, Iran even raised the spectre of a nuclear attack.

The toppled Iraqi leader is heard on the recordings he made in his presidential office during the 1990s, ruling out any such strike by Iraq.

The recordings also feature members of Saddam's family talking about how to conceal data on illegal weapons programmes from UN inspectors.

"Terrorism is coming. I told the Americans long time before August 2 and told the British as well," Saddam is heard to say on the tapes.

The mention of August 2 on the tape, appears to be a reference to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait on August 2, 1990.

Saddam, who is now on trial in Baghdad for war crimes, speculates that an attack with such weapons could be difficult to stop.

"In the future, what would prevent a booby trapped car causing a nuclear explosion in Washington or a germ or a chemical one?" he said.

Saddam, at the same time, added Iraq would not contemplate such an act.

"This is coming, this story is coming but not from Iraq."

The United States argued it could not risk a tyrant like Saddam passing weapons of mass destruction to terror groups, as part of its justification for war with Iraq in 2003.
 

Iran dismisses US warning 

Jakarta, Feb. 9: Iran dismissed as “tough words” on Thursday the United States’ refusal to rule out using military force against the Islamic republic over its controversial nuclear programme.  “We are not afraid of attacks by the United States or by other countries on Iran’s nuclear installations because we have nothing to hide, we have no installations to produce nuclear weapons,” Iranian vice-president Esfandyar Rahim Mashaee said here after meeting with his Indonesian counterpart. 

US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld said this week Washington would not rule out using military force against Iran to prevent it from obtaining nuclear weapons. 
Washington accuses Iran of trying to build a nuclear weapon under the cover of a civilian atomic energy programme — a charge vehemently denied by Tehran.
Mr Mashaee reiterated on Thursday that Tehran only possessed “nuclear technology” and did not own nuclear weapons. 

“Therefore, what can they attack in Iran? What we have are not nuclear weapons, but instead nuclear technology and science. Science cannot be destroyed by Western weapons,” Mr Mashaee said in Farsi through an Iranian interpreter.

The Iranian nuclear crisis escalated last week when the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) voted to report the Islamic republic to the United Nations Security Council over its nuclear programme. Iran said on Monday that large-scale uranium enrichment work would begin in “due course” in response to the IAEA decision.
Mr Mashaee described Mr Rumsfeld as “dracula” and said threats of military action against Iran “are all lies and mere tough words.”

He said Tehran has always “clearly” shown that “all of Iran’s nuclear actions and activity are for peaceful means.” The top Iranian official has travelled to Indonesia for meetings with vice-president Yusuf Kalla, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and others although the issues being discussed are unclear.

Mr Kalla said Indonesia opposed any military action against Iran based simply on suspicion that Tehran was attempting to acquire nuclear weapons. Jakarta abstained during last week’s vote by IAEA board members in Vienna to report Iran to the UN Security Council. Senior Iranian officials have warned that a referral to the council would bring “an end to diplomacy” as well as tough international inspections. 
 

Saddam lawyers say will not attend next session
Tue Jan 31, 2006
AMMAN  Saddam Hussein's lawyers said on Tuesday they would not attend Wednesday's session of his trial and threatened to boycott future sessions unless a new chief judge they accuse of bias apologises for "intimidating" them.

"We took a decision unanimously not to attend the next session at all because we don't want to harm our clients or ourselves," chief lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi told Reuters in Amman.

"Our attendance at future sessions is dependent on whether the court submits a formal apology. We will be adopting a tougher stance from now on," Dulaimi said.

Saddam's trial collapsed into chaos moments after resuming on Sunday, when the former Iraqi president and his defense team stormed out and guards dragged his half-brother Barzan al-Tikriti from the courtroom after he refused to keep quiet.

The dramatic scenes were played out as a new chief judge, Raouf Abdel Rahman, tried to stamp his authority on the court, telling lawyers he would not allow them to make political statements in court.

"The judge must apologize for his aggressive and unlawful behavior. He acted without respect for anyone in a dictatorial fashion and was totally biased toward the prosecution," said Dulaimi.

"The atmosphere in the court is now one of intense intimidation and terror, much more than in previous sessions, and this was from the moment we entered the court and even after we left," Dulaimi said.

He cited the treatment of Barzan and of Jordanian lawyer Saleh al-Armouti, who was ejected after questioning the legitimacy of the U.S.-backed court.

 

NEW YORK - Iraqi government interference with the independence of the judges in the trial of former President Saddam Hussein threatens the fairness of the proceedings, Human Rights Watch said on Friday.  The trial, which began last October, is scheduled to resume in Baghdad on Sunday after a five-day delay authorities blamed on witnesses failing to turn up. Other officials said the court was in disarray after the resignation of the chief judge, who complained of government meddling.  "The demand for presiding Judge Rizgar Amin's dismissal, which contributed to his resignation, was nothing less than an attack on judicial independence," said Richard Dicker, director of the International Justice Program at New York-based Human Rights Watch.  This general view photograph shows the interior of the courtroom where the trial of Saddam Hussein and seven co-defendants is being held, at an undisclosed location in the heavily fortified Green Zone, December 8, 2005. Picture taken December 8, 2005. (REUTERS/David Furst/Pool)  Saddam and seven co-defendants are on trial for the deaths of 148 men from the Shi'ite town of Dujail after a failed assassination attempt on the former Iraqi leader in 1982. The human rights organization said Amin had been publicly criticized for being too lenient with Saddam by senior Iraqi government officials, who at other times insisted the tribunal was independent of political pressure.  It also noted how Iraq's De-Baathification Commission had challenged the appointment of Judge Sayeed al-Hamashi as successor to Amin, saying he was ineligible to sit on the court as a former member of the Baath Party.  Hamashi was then transferred from the trial chamber.  "The removal of Judge Hamashi from the trial created the appearance of a court that is continually subjected to political interference," said Dicker.  "Sitting judges cannot be shuffled around as though they were deck chairs on the Titanic."  Human Rights Watch has said the policy of barring former Baath Party members interfered with the independence of judges because it made certain judges susceptible to dismissal at any time without regard to their past conduct.  "The resignation of Judge Amin and the transfer of Judge Hamashi mean that two of the five judges who have heard the witness testimony are now off the case," Dicker said. "It will be difficult for the new judges to impartially evaluate the testimony they missed, damaging the integrity of the trial."

SADDAM NEARLY PUNCHED

"Barzan was tied by more than six guards who punched him several blows inside the court and after he was dragged away from the sight of lawyers," Dulaimi said, adding that Saddam himself was nearly punched by guards too.

Dulaimi said Saddam had been advised not to attend Wednesday's court session but it was unclear what would happen as the lawyers were barred from seeing him after Sunday's session.
 
 

BAGHDAD - The Iraqi court trying Saddam Hussein appointed a replacement on Monday for the chief judge, who tendered his resignation last week, the chief prosecutor in the case Jaafar al-Moussawi told Reuters.

Kurdish judge Rizgar Amin would not attend the next hearing on January 24 and Sayeed al-Hamashi, currently Amin's deputy on the five-member panel of magistrates, would instead preside, he said. The Iraqi government had yet to take a final decision on whether to accept Amin's resignation, he added.
 

Iraq seeks to stop Saddam judge quitting 

16.01.06 8.15am 
BAGHDAD - Iraqi officials were trying to persuade the chief judge in the trial of Saddam Hussein not to resign yesterday after he announced he would quit in protest at government interference with the court. 
"The court has dispatched a senior judge today to visit him and try to dissuade him from resigning," one of the trial prosecutors, Mumkidh Taklif al-Fatlawi, said. "They are afraid of the damage this will do to the credibility of the tribunal." 
Quoting an official statement to prosecutors from the court administration, he told Reuters: "Judge Rizgar Amin has tendered his resignation and according to the tribunal statutes it was referred to the cabinet. The matter is still undecided." 
The killings of two defence lawyers have already prompted questions over the US-backed decision to hold the trial in the midst of bitter sectarian and ethnic conflict. 
A source close to Amin said officials were visiting him in his Kurdish home city of Sulaimaniya and trying to talk him out of quitting but he was reluctant to stay because Shi'ite leaders had criticized him for being "soft" on Saddam in court. 
"He tendered his resignation to the court a few days ago ... I am not sure if he will go back on his decision," said the source. "He had complaints from the government that he was being too soft in dealing with Saddam. They want things to go faster." 
The judge planned to explain his reasons for resigning after chairing the next hearing on January 24, the source said. 
Though Amin has made his feelings clear he has not commented publicly and it remains unclear whether he truly wants to quit or is using this as a threat to fend off government pressure. 
Government and tribunal spokesmen were not available. 
CREDIBILITY BLOW 
Technically the departure of the presiding magistrate on the five-judge panel can be overcome by simple substitution. But even if he stays, the complaints about government interference from Amin, the much-televised face of the court, may do lasting damage to the credibility of the US-sponsored High Tribunal. 
Only one other judge has allowed his face to be shown on television - and only Amin has let his name be published. 
The killings of the defence lawyers had already highlighted problems with the process amid a virtual civil war between Saddam's fellow minority Sunni Arabs and the US- sponsored government, run by Shi'ite Muslims and ethnic Kurds intent on quickly hanging a man they say massacred their peoples. 
International human rights lawyers have urged US officials and the Iraqi government to have Saddam tried abroad. 
"The defence team has long warned about the dangers of political pressure that has undermined the court's independence," Saddam's lead attorney, Khalil Dulaimi, told Reuters, praising the "high moral authority" of the chief judge. 
Miranda Sissons, who has observed the trial for the International Center for Transitional Justice, said that if Amin quits, "public faith in the tribunal will ... disappear". 
The trial has sat seven times since October 19. Saddam and seven others are charged with crimes against humanity for killing Shi'ite villagers after an assassination bid in 1982. 
Other trials, including for genocide, are likely to follow. 
After hearings last month, some observers criticized Amin for allowing Saddam and his co-defendants to speak at length, making allegations, including of maltreatment at American hands. 
The judge, whose dry wit and courteous manner have been features of the proceedings so far, rejected the criticism. 
Prosecutor Fatlawi said Amin had complained that his main sanction for disciplining the defendants -- barring them from the courtroom -- was a double-edged sword that would dent public confidence in the court if the trial played to an empty dock. 
PRISONERS FREED 
While the US military is holding Saddam for prosecution by the tribunal, it is also holding more than 14,000 people, most of them suspected of taking part in the Sunni Arab insurgency. 
There were 14,105 detainees after some 500 were released on Sunday, including two journalists who work for Reuters who had been held for several months without charge. The news agency has called on the military to deal more speedily with suspicions against journalists arising from their coverage of the conflict. 
The US government hopes a consensus government will emerge after a parliamentary election on December 15 that can quell violence and allow US troops to begin withdrawing this year. 
A military spokesman, Brigadier General Donald Alston, warned on Sunday that violence could increase, however, when final results are released in the next week or so, given disappointment among Sunnis with continued Shi'ite dominance. 
Al Qaeda in Iraq said it was forming an alliance with five smaller Islamist militant groups as the Mujahideen Council. 
Several policemen and soldiers were killed on Sunday. 
Foreign experts studying Sunni complaints of fraud said they would release their final report on January 19. That would pave the way for the Electoral Commission to publish final results. 

Trying Saddam
16 January 2006
THE trial of Saddam Hussein has been marred by controversies ever since it began in October last year. From the nature of the court proceedings to the evidence brought against the former dictator, controversy has plagued this unprecedented trial of an Arab leader for crimes against humanity. The dangerously delicate nature of the trial has been repeatedly underlined over the past few months. Two lawyers defending Saddam and his co-accused have been killed within weeks from each other.
 

But nothing perhaps can highlight the difficult task of trying Saddam Hussein than the resignation of chief judge Rizgar Muhammed Amin. The Kurdish judge, who has repeatedly been seen on television screens around the world patiently explaining a legal point or two to an argumentative Saddam, has stepped down citing interference from the powers that be in Iraq today. 

Clearly, judge Amin has behaved very professionally and conducted himself appropriately upholding highest standards and principles of justice. It only goes to prove that given an opportunity, people in this part of the world can excel in any area and are as professional as anyone. By stepping down, judge Amin has sent a clear message to Iraq’s new leaders that there can be no compromise on the question of free and fair trial. There is no doubt about Saddam’s highhandedness against Iraqi people: Shias, Sunnis and Kurds. That however doesn’t mean the tyrant should be summarily condemned and sent to gallows. Everyone deserves fair trial and justice. True, the Shias did suffer greatly under Saddam. But then the Kurds did too. In fact, they suffered more than the Shias when their whole villages were gassed for defying the ruthless regime. Judge Amin, being a Kurd himself, cannot be indifferent to his people’s suffering. Yet he is honest enough to know that as someone sitting in judgment, he has to rise above his tribal and sectarian affiliations. Which is what he was trying to do.

It is indeed unfortunate that Rizgar Amin has quit as the presiding judge although his resignation hasn’t been accepted yet. The Iraqi government now has only two options before it: Either persuade Amin to stay as the presiding judge and give him a free hand to do his job without fear or favour — or allow him to step down bringing a more pliant judge in his place. The second option would be a loss of Iraq and its people. For it’s not easy finding men of integrity such as Rizgar Amin today. But there is a third alternative, as well. Shift the Saddam trial outside Iraq to a neutral country. Which could be perhaps in everyone’s interest and the best way to settle this business.

A quieter Saddam prays in court
A quieter Saddam Hussein sat in his defendant's chair at the resumption of his trial Wednesday, two weeks after he called the court "unjust" and boycotted a session. In an apparent rebuke of the judge's refusal for a recess, the former leader bowed his head and prayed in court. Saddam and seven co-defendants are on trial in the deaths of more than 140 Shiite Muslims following a 1982 assassination attempt against him in the town of Dujail, north of Baghdad. The deposed president, who was wearing a dark suit but no tie on Wednesday, refused to attend the previous session on December 7. "I will not come to an unjust court! Go to hell!" he said in an outburst in court the day before.
His behaviour was calmer during the early parts of the trial on Wednesday, and he appeared clean-shaven and in fresh clothes. After greeting the court with a traditional "Peace be upon you," he sat quietly in the defendants' area and appeared to pay close attention to the proceedings, at times taking notes.Later on, Saddam, interrupting a witness, asked the judge if the court could take a break for prayer. Though the witness agreed that the trial should break, the judge ordered it to continue. About ten minutes later, Saddam swung his chair to the left, closed his eyes and repeatedly bowed his head in what appeared to be about a minute-long prayer, the first time he's done that in court. The trial was marked by one unruly outburst - from Saddam's half-brother and co-defendant Barazan Ibrahim. In an exchange whose audio was partially edited out of the televised feed, Ibrahim called the witness "a dog," guards entered the court and threatened to take him out. Ibrahim wagged his finger at the guards, telling them only the judge could tell him to leave the court. 
The prosecution's first witness on Wednesday Ali Hassan Mohammed al-Haidari - was a 14-year-old boy in 1982. 
His first words to the court were a verse from the Quran, the Islamic holy book, and as said that evil was coming and would be defeated, al-Haidari turned to Saddam, who finished the phrase with him. The judge, in an apparent early bid to take control of a courtroom that has often been unruly, told the witness to address the court and not Saddam directly.
It was Saddam's first court appearance following last week's election, when Iraqis swarmed to the polls to vote for the country's first full-term parliament since his downfall.