"Non Constat" The Show Trial begins.

international | crime and justice | other press

Wednesday October 19, 2005 14:11

by iosaf

No jobs, No Water, Little Food, No Peace, No Security, No international recognised court.

Marc Henzelin a legal expert from Geneva University has explained why he declined to defend Saddam Hussein saying the special tribunal is not compatible with international law and is little more than a soap opera.

Iraqi Saddam Hussein is charged with ordering the deaths of 143 Shi'ite Muslim men following a 1982 assassination attempt against him.
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He might also face trial for genocide and war crimes for the killing of Kurds in the 1980s, as well as the suppression of uprisings by Shi'ites and Kurds in 1991.

The organisation Human Rights Watch said 200,000 potential opponents were killed during Saddam's regime between 1979 and 2003.

It would seem like the man ought be put to trial where the international community recognise the process, penalty and court. Does it not?
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Link to Henzelin interview .-
"its all about justifying the US invasion"
http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=106&sid=6156139&cKey=1129722112000

the website of the "iraqi special tribunal"
http://www.iraq-ist.org/en/home.htm

list of Latin law terms on Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_legal_Latin_terms

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The transcript of what occured when Saddam took the stand :-

In response to a question, Saddam stood up and began reading aloud from a copy of the Koran he carried into court.

Judge ( Rizgar Mohammed Amin) : Mr. Saddam we ask you to write down your identity, your name, occupation and address and then we will allow you to talk. Now it is time to write down your identity.

Saddam: I was not about to say much.

Judge: We want your identity, your name, then we will listen to what you have. We are writing down the identities at this time. We will hear you when we need to listen to you.

Saddam: First of all, who are you and what are you?

Judge: The Iraqi Criminal Court.

Saddam: All of you are judges?

Judge: We don't have time to get into details. You can write down what you like.

Saddam: I have been here in this military building since 2:30, and then from nine I have been wearing this suit. They have asked me to take it off and then put it on again many times.

Judge: Who are you? What is your identity? Why don't you take a seat and let the others say their names and we will get back to you.

Saddam: You know me. You are an Iraqi and you know who I am. And you know I don't get tired.

Judge: These are formalities and we need to hear it from you.

Saddam: They have prevented me from getting a pen and a paper because paper, it seems, is frightening these days. I don't hold any grudges against any of you. But upholding what is right and respecting the great Iraqi people who chose me I won't answer to this court, with all due respect to the individuals involved in it, and I reserve my constitutional rights as the president of Iraq. You know me.

Judge: These are the procedures. A judge cannot rely on personal knowledge.

Saddam: I don't recognise the group that gave you the authority and assigned you. Aggression is illegitimate and what is built on illegitimacy is illegitimate.

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Comments (3 of 3)

one the defence lawyer has been murdered.

by stenographer

Fri Oct 21, 2005 12:57

lawyer Saadoun Sughaiyer al-Janabi, defence lawyer of Awad Hamed al-Bader, former chief judge of the Revolutionary Court, was kidnapped by 10 armed men in two white nissan vans on the night of 20th october and his body was found at a mosque in Baghdad.

One of the defendents was due to give evidence on Sunday next, it remains to be seen will this occur.

the show trial, sham is presently postponed till the end of November.

big correction.

by doh! - (iosaf)

Thu Oct 20, 2005 12:13

Iran has a case against Saddam too. Very big one.
Iran, Israel, Kuwait. they can all ask for him to be brought to an international court of justice, and answer all the questions about :-

a) fake dollars.
b) Weapons of Mass Destruction.
c) Osama's dialysis.

ah sure who would want to know?

little factoids.

Wed Oct 19, 2005 14:43

The tribunal has cost 500,000,000$ so far according to US media & Saddam's team are broke and have not been given assistance.

2000 lawyers volunteered for the defence team according to Al Jazeera.

They include native Iraqi lawyers, muslim world celibrities such as Colonel Ghadaffi's daughter and world class experts. The experts came from the Vatican, the UK (where one of the Guildford 4 barristers is still considering his position, to play a part in the show trial is to legitimise it). Almost to a one, the European experts of international law and international tribunal such as the Hague have declined to take part in this "sham". To do so would be to discredit justice. And from a european perspective the death sentance being demanded by Kuwait (with Israel the only states that may legitimately internationalise charges against Hussein) is abominable.

No-one appears to believe that this is about justice. Saddam ought be tried as any war criminal, any mass murderer, as any tyrant in a court which is recognised. If not, then in the future the Iraqi people will look back on the invasion, on the hardship, on the terror, on the slow wrangling for their constitution and the show trial that started it all. No-one can argue (can they?) that a show trial is the way to start a democratic culture?

can they?

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"Non Constat" The Show Trial begins.

Comments (3 of 3)