Saddam’s day in court dawns, 2 years after capture

By Luke Baker

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Nearly two years after he was found in
hiding, Saddam Hussein goes on trial in Baghdad on Wednesday
charged with crimes against humanity for the death of more than
140 Shi’ite Muslim men over two decades ago.

Together with seven others, all members of his once-feared
Baath Party, Saddam will face a five-judge panel from Iraq’s
Special Tribunal, a court established by U.S. authorities in
December 2003 to try the leaders of the overthrown regime.

However, while the day in court for the former dictator has
been long awaited by Iraqis and others, it may not last long.

Government officials and sources close to the tribunal say
the case may be quickly adjourned, perhaps on the first day, so
the judges, who have received training over the past 18 months
in Britain, can study defense motions for a dismissal or delay.

Saddam, 68, may not speak other than to confirm his name
when charges are read out; at a pre-trial hearing in July last
year he defiantly gave his occupation as “president of Iraq.”

He has not been seen in public since, other than in video
of interviews with magistrates, in which he appeared
thoughtful, stroking the greying beard he has sported since his
capture.

The charges stem from events that took place on July 8,
1982, when a group of young men linked to the Shi’ite Dawa
Party attempted to assassinate Saddam as his armoured motorcade
passed through Dujail, a town about 60 km (35 miles) north of
Baghdad.

In retaliation for the botched attempt on his life,
prosecutors will try to show that Saddam ordered his henchmen
to hunt down, torture and kill scores of men from the town, not
just immediately after that day, but in the years that
followed.

Women and children were also alleged to have been forcibly
removed from Dujail, taken to Abu Ghraib prison and later sent
to an internment camp in the desert near the border with Saudi
Arabia where many ultimately “disappeared.”

Helicopters and tanks then demolished parts of the town,
while Saddam’s soldiers laid waste to rich farmland and fruit
groves, destroying the people’s homes and their livelihoods.

INTENSE SECURITY

Investigators have had nearly two years to collect evidence
and interview witnesses in the case, the first of several which
Saddam is expected to face in the coming months, including
charges of genocide for attacks against Kurds in the 1980s.

More than 800 pages of evidence are said to have been
gathered ahead of the Dujail trial. Saddam’s chief lawyer,
Khalil Dulaimi, says he has not been given nearly enough time
to study it all or interview witnesses, limiting his defense.

An Iraqi with little experience of arguing major cases,
particularly not those involving allegations of crimes against
humanity, Dulaimi has said he intends to challenge the
legitimacy of the court in motions to be presented on
Wednesday.

The defense team backing him from London has said he will
present a dossier of 122 points designed to show that the
court, whose judges were chosen under U.S. occupation, does not
have jurisdiction over Saddam and is illegal.

In the run-up to the trial, human rights groups have raised
concerns about the independence of the court and its ability to
meet international standards for major criminal proceedings.

The trial will get under way amid intense security,
unprecedented even for Iraq, with body searches, X-rays, deep
background checks on observers, eye-scans and finger-printing.

The defendants will sit facing the judges, who will be on a
raised dais behind court clerks. A curtain will protect the
identity of witnesses, and bullet-proof glass will separate the
few journalists and observers from the rest of the court.

The prosecution and defense lawyers — each defendant can
have his own representative — will be allowed to question
witnesses only via the judges, as Iraqi law dictates.

With less than 24 hours to go, it still has not been
decided whether it will be carried live on TV or with a delay.

If proceedings are quickly adjourned, sources close to the
court say it could be several weeks before they resume,
probably after parliamentary elections are held in
mid-December.