Saddam lawyer rejects trial date as too early

By Mohammed Ramahi

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Saddam Hussein’s chief attorney
dismissed statements from the Iraqi government that the former
president’s trial would begin on October 19 as “invalid” and
said on Saturday he needed “years” just to read the evidence.

“The defense team has not been informed about the decision
and has not signed it. It is invalid,” Khalil Dulaimi told
Reuters, adding that in any case he did not recognize the
legitimacy of the Special Tribunal set up to try Saddam and his
aides.

He also complained that there was not enough time to study
all the documents related to the trial: “It will take years to
study the 36 tonnes of files.”

It seems unlikely the lawyer’s protest will be heeded.
Saddam and several aides will go on trial on October 19, an
Iraqi government source said on Friday.

The process, for the killing of dozens of Shi’ite villagers
at Dujail in 1982, will therefore be starting just a few days
after a referendum on a new constitution that the U.S.-backed
authorities intend to bury the legacy of his dictatorship.

The source, who is not attached to the Special Tribunal
actually trying the deposed president and his aides for crimes
against humanity, forecast a quick trial and execution.

“After what he did, how can we not execute him?” he said.

On Thursday, Iraq hanged its first three criminals since
Saddam was overthrown in 2003 and officials in the Shi’ite-led
government have made clear they want a death sentence for a man
they blame for the deaths of many thousands.

The trial may stir passions among some minority Sunni
Arabs, who dominated Iraq under Saddam and before. In some
demonstrations this past week against the new constitution, his
face reappeared in public, on placards and posters.

Saddam followers also play a role in the violence against
U.S. troops and forces loyal to the Shi’ite-led government.

SENSITIVE TIMING

For that reason, the timing of the trial has been
sensitive; judicial officials indicated last month that the
Dujail hearings would be ready to start by the beginning of
October, so the choice of Wednesday October 19 appears
politically driven to avoid it clashing with the referendum
campaign.

The timing of any conviction and sentencing, and indeed
execution, may be similarly affected by a parliamentary
election due in December. Officials say the trial will not run
into years or anything like the time former Yugoslav President
Slobodan Milosevic has been before the international court at
The Hague.

Weeks rather than months, was a forecast by one official
involved in the process. He also said recently it was possible
that Saddam might be executed if convicted only of the killings
at Dujail, so that further trials for mass murder against Kurds
and Shi’ites and other offences might never take place.

The Iraqi government, reflecting a popular mood, seems keen
on dispatching the former leader quickly, hence the choice of
the relatively small Dujail case to begin the process.

Prosecutors have said Saddam’s direct responsibility for
the deaths may be easier to prove. The case involves the deaths
of possibly more than 140 men from the village, north of
Baghdad, where Saddam survived an assassination attempt in
1982.

The trial, which officials have said will probably largely
be televised, will be held in a specially prepared building
inside the fortified Green Zone government compound which was
once Saddam’s presidential palace complex on the Tigris.

(Additional reporting by Mariam Karouny)