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Saddam lashes out at US as trial resumes
(AP)
Updated: 2005-11-29 07:13
Saddam began with a verse from the Muslim holy book that reminds believers
who aspire for heaven that God knows who actually participated in jihad, or holy
war.
He then complained that he had to walk up four flights of stairs in shackles
and accompanied by "foreign guards" because the elevator was not working.
The chief judge, Rizgar Mohammed Amin, said he would tell the police not to
let that happen again.
"You are the chief judge," Saddam snapped back, speaking like a president to
a subordinate. "I don't want you to tell them. I want you to order them. They
are in our country. You have the sovereignty. You are Iraqi and they are
foreigners and occupiers. They are invaders. You should order them."
Former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein listens
to Presiding Judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin as his trial resumes in Baghdad
November 28, 2005.[Reuters] | Saddam also
complained that some of his papers had been taken from him.
"How can a defendant defend himself if his pen was taken? Saddam Hussein's
pen and papers were taken. I don't mean a white paper. There are papers
downstairs that include my remarks in which I express my opinion," he said.
Amin ordered bailiffs to give Saddam pen and paper.
The tribunal allowed Clark and prominent lawyers from Qatar and Jordan to
joined the defense team as advisers, a move aimed at convincing foreign human
rights groups that the trial would meet international standards of fairness.
Also, the chief judge ordered all handcuffs and shackles removed from the
defendants before they entered the courtroom — another gesture toward the
accused.
The defendants stand accused of killing more than 140 Shiite Muslims after an
assassination attempt against Saddam in the Shiite town of Dujail in 1982.
Convictions could bring a sentence of death by hanging.
None of the nearly 35 prosecution witnesses testified Monday, but the
prosecution entered into evidence two videotapes — one shot in the aftermath of
the assassination attempt showing Saddam in military uniform interrogating three
villagers. The second was a videotaped statement by former intelligence officer
Wadah Israel al-Sheik made last month shortly before he died of cancer.
Amin read the transcript as the tape played without sound. According to the
transcript, al-Sheik, who appeared frail and sat in a wheelchair in a
U.S.-controlled hospital, said about 400 people were detained after the
assassination attempt, although he estimated only seven to 12 gunmen actively
participated in the ambush of Saddam's convoy.
"I don't know why so many people were arrested," al-Sheik said, adding that
Ibrahim, head of intelligence at the time, "was the one directly giving the
orders."
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