Prosecutors seek death for Saddam

By Ahmed Rasheed

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Prosecutors demanded the death penalty
on Monday for Saddam Hussein and three of his former aides for
crimes against humanity following a 1982 crackdown on Shi’ites
in which hundreds were killed and tortured.

A smiling and relaxed Saddam, who has repeatedly dismissed
the U.S.-backed court as a farce and faces death by hanging if
found guilty, told the chief prosecutor after he finished his
closing arguments: “Well done.”

Prosecutors also requested the death penalty for Saddam’s
half-brother Barzan al-Tikriti, former vice-president Taha
Yassin Ramadan and the former chief judge of Saddam’s
Revolutionary Court, Awad Hamed al-Bander.

Saddam, Barzan, Ramadan, Bander and four local Baath party
officials face charges of crimes against humanity for their
roles in the killings, torture and executions that followed an
attempt on the Iraqi leader’s life in the village of Dujail.

“The prosecution demand that the court impose the heaviest
penalties on those defendants who spread corruption on earth
and where not even trees escape their oppression, so we demand
the court impose the death penalty,” chief prosecutor Jaafar
al-Moussawi told chief Judge Raouf Abdel Rahman.

Eight months into a tumultuous trial marred by the killings
of two defense lawyers, the resignation of a judge and tirades
from the defendants, prosecutors presented their final
statements in a heavily-fortified Baghdad courtroom.

Rahman later adjourned the trial until July 10, when the
defense team should deliver its final remarks.

Once final statements are in, a five-judge panel is
expected to adjourn to consider a verdict.

Any sentence of execution for the former Iraqi president
could be delayed by appeals and possibly up to a dozen other
trials for war crimes and genocide.

Saddam has admitted he ordered trials that led to
executions of Dujail villagers, but said it was his legal right
to do so because he was the head of state at a time of war with
neighboring Iran.

“EXCESSIVE FORCE”

In a 45-minute statement, Moussawi said Saddam personally
ordered Barzan to launch the crackdown in Dujail.

Following the attempt on Saddam’s life by gunmen who opened
fire on his motorcade during a presidential visit, planes
bombed Dujail, killing nine people, he said.

Families were detained and tortured at a Baath headquarters
in Baghdad where 36 died, and 399 women, children and old men
were sent to a detention center in the desert without trial.

“The military operations that followed the attempt were a
reprisal, and excessive force was used as a response to this
simple incident,” he said.

He said the 148 villagers executed at Bander’s court on
Saddam’s orders “never attended the court room and some of them
were killed during the investigation.”

Prosecutors asked the court to reduce the punishment
against three local Baath officials and that a fourth one be
let go.