Posted on 02/13/2006 2:00:07 AM PST by RWR8189
BAGHDAD (AFP) - A fiery Saddam Hussein is back in court after boycotting his trial on charges of crimes against humanity, but said he had been forced to appear.
"Down with the traitor, down with traitors, down with Bush.. long live the ummah (Islamic nation)... long live the ummah..long live the ummah..," roared the ousted Iraqi dictator as soon as he arrived in court on Monday.
"I was forced into the courtroom," Saddam angrily told chief judge Rauf Rasheed Abdel Rahman.
Barzan al-Tikriti, his half-brother and former secret police chief, frequently interrupted the session as guards were seen pushing him down into his seat in the dock.
The surprise appearance jolted the proceedings after the Iraqi strongman's chief attorney told reporters earlier Monday that Saddam and his seven co-defendants planned to continue skipping the hearings.
"No international law can force people to attend trials," Khalil al-Dulaimi, head of Saddam's defense team, told AFP.
"Unless you change the law and turn it into the law of the jungle."
First the defense lawyers and then Saddam himself walked out of the court in protest during a stormy session on January 29 in protest at the new presiding judge's decision to forcibly expel Barzan for being disruptive.
All eight defendants face the death penalty if convicted over the massacre of more than 140 Shiites after an attempt on Saddam's life in 1982 in the town of Dujail. They pleaded not guilty on the first day of the trial in October.
The high-profile trial has frequently descended into farce, with stormy sessions featuring long outbursts or walkouts by the defendants and their counsel as well as the resignation of the previous chief judge.
Ahead of Monday's court session, Dulaimi said the defense team had a number of conditions before they would return, including replacing presiding Judge Rauf Rasheed Abdel Rahman and prosecutor Jaafar al-Mussawi.
He also called for improved security for defense counsel and continuous television transmission of the trial without periodic cuts to ensure it is "transparent and fair".
Dulaimi, who calls the entire court illegitimate, warned the proceedings were dangerously adrift.
"They don't know what to do, because for a court you need a judge, a prosecutor, defense and defendants -- if two of them are not here, then there is no more court," he said.
Adding further drama, a member of the Amman-based legal team of the defendants said on Sunday that the eight men had decided to stage a hunger strike to protest attempts to force them to appear in court.
But this was swiftly denied by al-Dulaimi who told AFP in Amman: "All the reports about a hunger strike by Saddam and his co-defendants are without foundation."
A court official said three officials from the former regime will testify Monday -- Hassan al-Obedi, a former intelligence official, Ahmed Hussein Khudeir, a former presidential chief of staff and an anonymous third official.
The trial has now moved to its second phase, from victims testifying about abuses of security forces to witnesses, including regime officials, shedding light on the events of that period.
International human rights activists believe that Abdel Rahman has a tough job ahead of him.
"The Iraqi High Tribunal is at a crossroads," said Richard Dicker, director of the New York-based Human Rights Watchs International Justice Program.
"The court is fully entitled to discipline lawyers for misconduct. But if the court takes the drastic step of dismissing defendants' chosen attorneys and imposes new lawyers who the defendants reject, the judges are taking an enormous risk with the fairness of the trial."
Saddam sounds like the ass he is, nothing more, nothing less. If he doesn't behave what about chaining him to the chair with a gag over his big mouth?
it is impressively daring of iraq to begin the new form of government with a trial which makes a mockery of the power of the state. 'OJ' is not a model for trying former heads of state in this situation. I would think something more along the lines of 'nuremberg' would be appropriate?
If he doesn't behave what about chaining him to the chair with a gag over his big mouth?
____________________________________
I don't see why not. Iraqi's would probably get a kick out of that too.
NONE o these outbursts and organized in-court disturbances happened until Ramsey Clark became his lawyer.
It's Clarke, not Saddamn.
You know, Duct Tape is good for just about any leakage...
This is the sort of thing that happens when the Romanian solution to a dictator problem isn't implemented.
Why don't they just execute him?
Strap him to a hand truck, put a "Hannibal Lecter" mask on him, and let's get this trial GOING!!!
Every time he speaks, the court officials should play the Three Stooges theme- just to set his words in proper context.
That's funny. But do you think he would "get it"?
Sure. Music is universal language, especially old vaudeville like that. That's got to be the silliest song I can think of anyway... or maybe the Loony Tunes song?
Someone sew his lips together and wire the jaw shut. Or just hang the sumbich!
Tape his legs to the chair, tape his arms together in front of him, and save a nice wide strip for his mouth.
I hope they put a sock in his mouth and push on.
You know...several of the Iraqis were saying pretty much the same thing as we were all watching the Saddam Fiasco on Sky News (20-minute delay) during lunch.
That was all quite entertaining. ;-)
He is acting like the YIPPIE and other New Left defendants in the 60s and 70s and Ramsey Clark is on his defense team, too. Could there possibly be some little connection?
I think that they should have cameras going from all the networks and local stations there as two men walk up to Saddam in the courtroom, one reads out his newly pronounced sentence and the other shoots him dead on the spot. Then they turn to the other defendants.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.