Saddam Trial Hears of Execution Orders

Saddam Hussein’s defense lawyers today ended their month-long boycott of his trial, attending proceedings in which prosecutors presented a document said to be signed by Saddam approving the executions of more than 140 Shias in the 1980s.

The defense team’s participation appeared to vindicate the tough approach the chief judge, Raouf Abdel-Rahman, has taken since he took over the tribunal early last month, pushing ahead with the proceedings even when the lawyers - and times, the defendants themselves - refused to attend.

Today’s session was one of the most orderly since the trial began in October. Saddam and his seven co-defendants entered the court and took their seats silently in sharp contrast to nearly every other session, which began with Saddam and his half-brother Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti shouting slogans or arguing with the judge.

The chief prosecutor, Jaafar al-Moussawi, presented a series of documents concerning the execution of more than 140 Shias from Dujail in a crackdown launched after an attempt on Saddam’s life in 1982. After about two hours of hearing evidence, the court adjourned until tomorrow.

One of the documents was a memo from the revolutionary court, dated June 14, 1984, announcing that 148 suspects had been sentenced to death by hanging, with a list of the names. The prosecutor said the signature on the memo was that of the court’s head, Awad al-Bandar, one of Saddam’s co-defendants.

A document dated two days later was a presidential approving all 148 death sentences. It was signed by Saddam, Mr. al-Moussawi said, displaying the document with the signature on a screen in the court room.

The sentences were passed after an "imaginary trial", Mr. al-Moussawi told the court. "None of the defendants were brought to court. Their statements were never recorded."

The prosecution also displayed a document dated from March 1985, said to be signed by Barzan - head of the Mukhabarat intelligence agency at the time - ordering the executions to be carried out, with the names of the 148 listed.

Another document from the revolutionary court dated March 23, 1985, confirmed that 96 executions took place.

A further 46 people were "liquidated during interrogations", a later Mukharabat document stated, which added that four people were executed by mistake. Saddam and the seven co-defendants are on trial for carrying out torture, illegal arrests and executions in the Dujail crackdown. They face death by hanging if convicted.

Mr. Abdel-Rahman opened today’s session by announcing that the five-judge panel had rejected a defence request that he and the chief prosecutor be removed from the trial.

Saddam’s chief lawyer Khaled al-Dulaimi said he would appeal and left the court to prepare but the remaining six members of the defense team remained. Barzan stood and argued briefly with Mr. Abdel-Rahman, who repeatedly ordered him to sit down.

The defense stormed out of court on January 29 after Mr. Abdel-Rahman ejected one of the lawyers for shouting. The defence then said it would boycott the trial unless Mr. Abdel-Rahman was removed, accusing him of bias against Saddam.

Mr. Abdel-Rahman has adopted a no-nonsense style in the court since he took over the trial, replacing a previous chief judge who had been criticized as too lenient toward Saddam and Barzan’s frequent outbursts.

The defense walkout had threatened the perception of fairness in the tribunal, a key issue in a trial that Iraqi and US officials said would be a landmark in political progress for a country torn between Sunnis and Shias.