Saddam’s trial for crimes against humanity begins

By Luke Baker and Michael Georgy

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – The trial of Saddam Hussein started in
a Baghdad court on Wednesday with the former Iraqi president
accused of crimes against humanity for allegedly ordering the
killing of more than 140 people two decades ago.

Nearly two years after he was found hiding in a hole in the
ground near where he was born, Saddam and seven other members
of his now-defunct Baath Party are being tried for events
stemming from a failed attempt on the former leader’s life in
1982.

Saddam, wearing a dark jacket over an open-necked shirt,
entered the court shortly before proceedings got under way just
after noon in Baghdad (0900 GMT).

The court was presided over by a five-judge panel, headed
by Rizgar Mohammed Amin, a Kurd, sitting on dais looking down
on the defendants, who were in white metal pens on a marble
floor. The scales of justice hung on the wall behind the
judges.

Prosecutors will try to show that Saddam, in retaliation
for the botched assassination attempt, ordered his henchmen to
hunt down, torture and kill scores of men from the town where
the attack took place, on that day and in the years that
followed.

The defense is expected to petition the judges for an
adjournment saying it has not had enough time to prepare for
the trial and arguing that the court, established during the
U.S. occupation in 2003, is illegitimate.

The opening hearing may last just hours, however, before
the trial is adjourned, possibly for weeks or months. Saddam’s
lawyer, who said his client was in good spirits on the eve of
the trial, is seeking a delay to allow more time to prepare.

Iraq’s government, led by long-time enemies of Saddam and
looking for popularity ahead of elections in December, hopes
the trial will boost the morale of Iraqis struggling against
the hardships of the insurgency 2-1/2 years after the war
began.

Human rights groups have expressed unease about perceptions
of “victor’s justice,” warning that the trial must not only be
fair, but be seen to be fair, and raising concerns about the
legitimacy of a body set up during U.S. occupation.

The eyes of the world are on the trial, which is being
televised with a 20-minute delay, not just to capture the
moment that Saddam stands in the dock, but to watch whether
Iraq under its new leadership can fairly try its deposed
ex-dictator.

Security at the court was extraordinarily tight.

DEATH PENALTY

If found guilty, Saddam could face death by hanging and
according to new statutes governing the tribunal, any sentence
would have to be carried out within 30 days of all appeals
being exhausted. That means Saddam could be executed before
being tried for other crimes such as genocide.

While the former president’s day in court has been long
awaited by millions of Iraqis and others, it may not last long.

Sources close to the tribunal say the case may be quickly
adjourned so the judges, partly trained in Britain over the
past year, 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.”

In a statement posted on the Internet on Tuesday, people
calling themselves members of the Baath Party urged Saddam’s
followers to rise up and defy the court with gunfire.

In Baghdad and areas to the west, mortar rounds landed near
U.S. military bases, and in Tikrit, Saddam’s hometown, dozens
of young men rallied and chanted in support of the
ex-president.

“The trial is unfair,” said student Dawud Farham, aged 18.
“They should put on trial those who are tearing apart Iraq and
its people.”

“BRUTAL CRACKDOWN”

Khalil al-Dulaimi, Saddam’s chief lawyer, said on Tuesday
following a visit to Saddam’s detention cell that his client
was calm and confident of his innocence.

An Iraqi with little experience of arguing major cases,
such as those involving alleged crimes against humanity,
Dulaimi has said he intends to challenge the legitimacy of the
court.

The defense team has said he will present a dossier of 122
points designed to show that the court, set up by Americans,
does not have jurisdiction over Saddam and is illegal.

He will also ask for more time to study the more than 800
pages of evidence collected by investigators over the past two
years and which the defense team received just 45 days ago.

He may also argue that Saddam had presidential immunity.

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 armored 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.

(Additional reporting by Aseel Kami, Alastair Macdonald,
Andrew Quinn, Claudia Parsons and Mariam Karouny in Baghdad,
Jafer Majid Hatem in Dujail and Ghazwan al-Juburi in Tikrit)