Furor
Over Saddam's Execution Continues Unabated
By Dahr Jamail &
Ali al-Fadhily
19 January, 2007
Inter
Press Service
BAGHDAD -
Expressions of outrage over the conduct of the trial and the manner
of Saddam Hussein's rushed, chaotic execution are continuing unabated
here as lawyers and human rights groups voice their criticism –
although some are still cautiously asking the media to withhold their
names from publication.
Iraqi and international legal
experts appear in agreement that the special court that sentenced the
former Iraqi leader to the gallows was illegally set up and failed to
meet international recognized standards.
They recalled that former
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said on Sept. 16, 2004, that the invasion
and occupation of Iraq violated the UN Charter. This made the setting-up
of the so-called Iraqi High Tribunal to try Saddam illegal.
Two others sentenced to death,
Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, Saddam's half brother and a former intelligence
chief, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, the former head of Iraq's Revolutionary
Court, were hanged early Monday. Barzan was decapitated – accidentally,
authorities said.
The manner of the executions
has added to the disquiet over the execution of Saddam and the trial
that led to it.
Throughout the lengthy trial
of Saddam, many voiced suspicions that the outcome was a foregone conclusion
and had been scripted by politicians in Baghdad and Washington.
"The verdict was prejudged
by the Bush administration and its Iraqi allies. The court was a disgusting
comedy," a senior member of the Iraqi Lawyers' Union told IPS on
condition of anonymity.
"The resignation of
Rezgar Muhammad Amin, the first chief judge of Saddam's Dujail trial,
provoked serious questions among lawyers in Iraq and outside the country.
"It was clear that he
resigned under pressure from the Iraqi government. They wanted him to
take the case on another course that it was going."
Amin gave personal reasons
for resigning as chief judge on the Iraqi High Tribunal in January last
year, three months into the Dujail trial.
The Dujail trail focused
on an Iraqi government crackdown after a failed assassination attempt
on Saddam in 1982. The action killed 148 Shi'ites.
A senior adviser at Iraq's
Ministry of Justice, also speaking on condition of anonymity, told IPS
that Amin's replacement, Judge Raouf, was under clear instructions from
his assistant judges to deliver harsh verdicts against Saddam and the
other co-defendants.
Criticism was also leveled
at the atmosphere of deadly intimidation throughout the long trial,
which started in October 2005.
A security colonel at the
Ministry of Interior in Baghdad, also requesting not to be quoted by
name, told IPS, "We wrote to the minister suggesting that by protecting
the defense lawyers and witnesses we would be investing the court with
integrity – but our superiors ignored us.
"The result was that
three defense lawyers were assassinated and some defense subjected to
torture.
"The case should have
been halted until proper protection was provided for these people."
He added, "I and many
of my colleagues believe Saddam deserved the death sentence, but not
one issued by a weak court that did not serve justice or show even the
minimal credibility."
The unconvincing prosecution
witnesses and the courtroom dramas and scandals were also raised by
critics here.
"Some witnesses were
10 years old or less at the time of the incident," Ahmed Saadoon,
a lawyer from the city of Diwaniya, south of Baghdad, told IPS. "There
were many contradictions in their statements."
The aggressive prosecution
tactics brought discredit to the court proceedings, he said. "The
attorney general was so harassing. That made the trail look so biased,"
he said.
International human rights
groups have also voiced their criticisms, calling the trial by a special
court illegal and in violation of international law.
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary
Detentions has ruled that Saddam's "deprivation of liberty"
was "arbitrary." Its decision was passed on to Saddam's defense
lawyers shortly before the final verdict and sentencing on Nov. 5, 2006.
The Working Group, made up
of independent legal experts from Iran, Algeria, Paraguay, Spain, and
Hungary, spent more than two years collecting information before announcing
its findings.
It based its decision on
its interpretation of international treaties, particularly the International
Covenant of Civil and Political Rights. It found that Article 14 of
the Covenant had been violated in numerous ways.
Following the outcry over
Saddam's hanging, Human Rights Watch issued a statement attacking Iraqi
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's fierce defense of the execution.
This showed the Iraqi government's
"disregard for human rights and the rule of law," Human Rights
Watch said. The rights group called in vain on the Iraqi government
to halt the upcoming execution of Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti and Awad
Hamed al-Bandar.
The two were sentenced to
death with Saddam in the Dujail trial.
Human Rights Watch also criticized
the Dujail trial as "fundamentally unfair" and Saddam's death
sentence as "indefensible."
The Iraqi government now
faces the prospect of being taken to the International Court of Justice
at The Hague over the manner of Saddam's execution and allegations that
his body was defiled after being cut down from the gallows.
Bushra al-Khalil, a lawyer
on Saddam Hussein's defense team, told reporters here that she was planning
to sue the government over the taunting of the former leader by his
executioners on the gallows. This was captured on video by a mobile
phone and generated worldwide outrage when it was broadcast on TV stations
and over the Internet across the world.
Khalil also said she would
also file a second action over allegations that executioners had violated
Saddam's body after he was hanged, according to the Saudi daily al-Watan.
(Inter Press Service)
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