Saddam genocide trial risks being unfair: group

Reuters via ABC News ^ | Aug 18, 2006 | none of our business!

[james500]

Aug 18, 2006 — BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The Iraqi court which will hold Saddam Hussein's second trial next week, on charges of genocide against the Kurds, has proven it is incapable of holding fair hearings, a human rights group said on Friday.

"Based on extensive observations of the tribunal's conduct of its first trial … Human Rights Watch believes that the Iraqi High Tribunal is presently incapable of fairly and effectively trying a genocide case," the group said.

[sure_fine]

"None of the Iraqi judges and lawyers has shown an understanding of international criminal law. The court's administration has been chaotic and inadequate, making it unable to conduct a trial of this magnitude fairly," the group said.





this POS group needs to catch up on things, this is none of the 'internationals' business

[DieHard the Hunter]

Hang 'im.

[nathanbedford]

Genocide is the most serious crime there is

Is it? One could well argue that the cumulative deaths of tens of millions of babies by abortion in America alone is worse.

One might also question whether murder on account of race is philosophically worse than, for example, murder on account of politics, e.g. Mao's Cultural Revolution. Or tribe?

Putting all that outside, however, it is clear that they ought to get on with the business of convicting and executing Saddam because time for America in Iraq is clearly running out. If the situation rapidly degenerates into open civil war the very best we might hope to salvage out of the entire debacle might be that we can prevent terrorists in Iraq from gaining the bomb by setting one faction against another, British style, or Roman style. Most likely, this means supporting Sunnis against Shi'ites to prevent a Shi'ite hegemony running from Afghanistan to the Mediterranean. We cannot support Sunnis as long as Saddam is alive and brooding somewhere like Napoleon on Elba.

[Waco]

B.S.P.H.D.

[KarinG1]

It occurs to me that the genocide may have been a bit unfair as well.

[Wilhelm Tell]

Did this human rights group ever complain about the show trials Saddam conducted and the genocide he committed? Just wondering.

[JerseyHighlander]

On reporting on the show trials, they have, I bought those reports from them for a class in college years back.

This HRW guy and the hack reporter don't take the time to mention that every Iraqi who works for the tribunal is a assassination target, as well as their families, business associates and neighborhoods. How many Tribunal people have been murderd so far, how many kidnapped or had family members killed or kidnapped? Saddam's surviving military brass are behind the murders, yet these HRW people are willing to make their lives even more difficult because HRW's impossible utopian standards aren't being upheld.

F**k HRW. Let them rot.

[mewzilla]

Some more of what Human Rights Watch has been up to lately...

Human Rights Watch slams Israel for apparently targeting Lebanese civilians

[anthropos]

Well, be fair...it did go both ways Human Rights Watch slams Hezbollah for targeting Israeli civilians

[observer5]

"a human rights group said on Friday"

good thing the thing doesn't have a name

[Wilhelm Tell]

That is a good point. I guess death squads killing members of the tribunal and subverting the rule of law just isn't an important human rights issue. However, treating Saddam like royalty is an important human rights issue with our "human rights" activists. The so-called human rights activists usually have utopian expectations for the U.S., Israel or any country that is throwing off tyranny. But then they are rather quiet when it comes to totalitarian countries that are enemies of the West.