New Head Judge Ejects Saddam From Trial

The new chief judge at deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s genocide trial ordered him physically removed from the Baghdad courtroom Wednesday.

In his first day as chief judge, Mohammed al-Ureibi became angry when Saddam refused to sit down in protest of his appointment, and shouted insults at the bench.

Take him out, Ureibi said. Get out.

Saddam’s defense attorneys then read a prepared statement condemning government interference in the trial and also left, CNN reported.

The protest was over a government decision Tuesday to replace Chief Judge Abdullah al-Amiri over a remark he made last week when he interrupted testimony to say Saddam was not a dictator.

In a statement late Tuesday, Human Rights Watch said the government’s move had greatly undermined the court’s own appearance of neutrality and objectivity.

Saddam and six other men are on trial for the alleged genocide of as many as 100,000 of northern Iraq’s Kurdish population in the late 1980s.