Relative of trial judge in Saddam case killed

AP via Register Guard ^ | Sept 30, 2006 | David Rising

[jdm]

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A relative of the new presiding judge in Saddam Hussein's genocide trial was shot and killed in Baghdad on Friday, an attack condemned by the country's top prosecutor as an attempt to force the trial to be moved out of Iraq.

On Friday night, the government imposed a complete curfew for the capital effective immediately through Sunday morning, the prime minister's office said. It did not give a reason for the ban on all vehicles and pedestrians.

A source at the Interior Ministry said intelligence information on the security situation made a curfew necessary. He refused to give further details.

In the past, such wide-ranging curfews have been imposed after intelligence information that car or suicide bombs were planned in Baghdad. The U.S. military has forecast a surge in violence during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan which began on Monday. A senior U.S. military official said the first week of Ramadan was the worst for suicide bombings since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

Prosecutor General Jaafar al-Mousawi said the attack on a car carrying the judge's brother-in-law and nephew, the latest in a string of violence linked to proceedings against the former Iraqi leader, would not stop the court from moving ahead. During Saddam's first trial, three defense lawyers were killed, and a fourth fled the country in fear of his life.

''The terrorists and criminals are aiming through this act to stop the justice and the democratic process in Iraq,'' al-Mousawi said. ''Killing a lawyer or a judge or their relatives is an attempt to prevent the trial from continuing, and then to transfer it abroad, but that goal will never be achieved.''

Saddam's defense team has wanted to move the trial to another country in the belief that he is not receiving a fair trial.

However, al-Mousawi did not elaborate on why those who attacked the judge's relatives might want the trial moved.

[cripplecreek]

I wonder if anyone has considered that many of the death in Iraq are simply murders or robberies gone bad? It seems unlikely in this case but I've been wondering how many simple crimes are being reported to be the result of American occupation.