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Saddam admits razing farms in Dujail case

Posted on: Wednesday, 1 March 2006, 11:58 CST

By Mussab Al-Khairalla

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Saddam Hussein admitted in court on Wednesday that he ordered the trial of Shi'ite Muslims who were later executed in the 1980s, but justified it as a legitimate punishment saying: "Where is the crime?"

Saddam made the surprising admission, along with another that he ordered people's farmland to be razed, during his second day in court this week on charges of crimes against humanity.

In hours of proceedings, prosecutors read out documents, showed satellite images and played audio tapes in an attempt to link Saddam to the execution of 148 Shi'ites from Dujail after an attempt on his life in the village in July 1982.

"I referred them to the revolutionary court according to the law. Awad was implementing the law, he had a right to convict and acquit," Saddam said, referring to his co-accused Awad al- Bandar, the former chief of the Revolutionary Court.

"I razed them ... we specified the farmland of those who were convicted and I signed," Saddam told the court.

"It's the right of the state to confiscate or to compensate. So where is the crime?" he asked.

Describing how gunmen fired machine guns as his motorcade drove through the town during a visit, Saddam said: "I saw the bullets with my own eyes, I was sitting on the right side."

The trial, which began last October, was adjourned until March 12, the latest in a series of adjournments in the stilted process that some international observers have criticized.

Saddam was uncharacteristically subdued in court as chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Moussawi presented what he said were documents containing Saddam's handwriting, showed aerial pictures of fields laid waste around Dujail and played an audio tape of Saddam in discussion with a Baath party official.

On Tuesday, Moussawi presented what he said was a death warrant signed by Saddam.

In previous proceedings, the judge heard testimony from witnesses recounting how they were tortured by Saddam's aides, but was shown no direct evidence linking Saddam to the crimes.

If convicted, the former president could face death by hanging.

Prosecutors had hoped the Dujail case would prove more clear cut than other, more complex cases involving charges of genocide where Saddam's responsibility may be more difficult to prove. But so far Dujail has proved less straight forward than might have been hoped.

Defense council have argued that Saddam, a Sunni who justified his harsh rule by the need for national unity, was Iraq's president at the time and that he acted within the law.

"What we saw today was not Saddam admitting guilt, but admitting to the fact that he acted in accordance with his official duties and powers," said Nehal Bhuta, a legal expert from Human Rights Watch who has been monitoring the case.

UNITY

Following a week of sectarian violence that has killed hundreds and pitched Iraq toward civil war, Saddam used an opportunity to address the court to recall the unity of Iraqis in the war he waged against Iran in the 1980s.

The former leader's trial has been overshadowed by fears that Iraq's sectarian tensions are out of control, but Saddam, who has dominated court proceedings in the past with lengthy tirades against the U.S.-backed tribunal, spoke of unity.

"Saddam didn't win in 1988 but the Iraqi people won ... Arab and Kurds and all other religions and sects," he said.

"The people must be united," he said. "All religions, all ethnic groups."

When chief judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman, a Kurd who has been strict with the eight defendants, politely asked Saddam to finish, Saddam said:" Give me some time, I have been your president for 35 years. I am still the president of Iraq according to the constitution."

Saddam's calls for Iraqi unity come a week after suspected al Qaeda militants bombed a Shi'ite shrine in Samarra, sparking reprisal killings against minority Sunnis and stalling U.S.- backed efforts to forge a government of national unity that would include Shi'ites, Sunnis and Kurds.

The trial has been marred by the killing of two defense lawyers, the resignation of the previous judge and concerns by international human rights groups who say violence in Iraq makes a fair trial impossible.

Source: REUTERS

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