Trial of Saddam Hussein - Al-Dujail Trial: 19 October 2005

Al-Dujail Trial: 19 October 2005

Iraqi authorities put Saddam and seven other former Iraqi officials on trial on 19 October 2005, four days after the 15 October 2005 referendum on the new Iraq constitution. The tribunal specifically charged the defendants with the killing of 148 Shiites from Dujail, in retaliation for the failed assassination attempt of 8 July 1982. Supporters of Saddam protested against the trial in Tikrit.

Saddam's co-defendants were:

• Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, his half-brother and former chief of intelligence
• Taha Yassin Ramadan, former Vice-President
• Awad Hamed al-Bandar Al-Sa'dun, a former chief judge
• Abdullah Kadhem Roweed Al-Musheikhi, Al-Dujail Ba'ath party official
• Mizher Abdullah Roweed Al-Musheikhi, (son of Abdullah Kadhem), Al-Dujail Ba'ath party official
• Ali Daeem Ali, Al-Dujail Ba'ath party official
• Mohammed Azawi Ali, Al-Dujail Ba'ath party official

As in his pre-trial appearance, at the opening of the 19 October Trial Saddam appeared defiant. He rejected the tribunal's legitimacy and independence from the control of the foreign occupation. "I do not respond to this so-called court, with all due respect to its people, and I retain my constitutional right as the president of Iraq", Saddam declared. He added, "Neither do I recognize the body that has designated and authorized you, nor the aggression because all that has been built on false basis is false."

When the judge asked for his name, Saddam refused, stating "I am the president of the Iraq". He returned the question, asking Kurdish judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin, "Who are you? I want to know who you are." When Amin addressed Saddam as "the former president", Saddam objected emphatically, saying he was still the President of the Republic of Iraq and had not been deposed.

While Saddam's seven co-defendants appeared in traditional Arabic male dress, Saddam wore a dark suit and a white shirt. Al-Bandar, sitting next to Saddam in the front row in a pen of white metal bars, complained that the defendants had been stripped of their head-coverings, upon which they were given back to them.

After the charges were read to them, all eight defendants pleaded not guilty. The first session of Saddam's trial lasted three hours. The court adjourned the case until 28 November 2005, as some of the witnesses were too frightened to attend, and to allow the defense more time to study evidence. During an interview with the Arab news agency al-Arabiya following the opening of the trial, Saddam's eldest daughter Raghad branded the court a "farce" and claimed that her father behaved like a "lion" during the proceedings. "My father is brave, a lion, I am proud of him", she said. "He is a man who dedicated his life to serve his country, he was brave in his youth, so how can he be afraid now?" she added.

On 20 October 2005, attorney Saadoun Sughaiyer al-Janabi, charged with the defense of Awad Hamed al-Bandar, was abducted from his office by gunmen, and found shot dead near his office a few hours later. On 8 November 2005, attorney Adel al-Zubeidi, who had been representing Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan and Abdullah Kazim Ruwayyid, was killed by three gunmen in Baghdad. Barazan Ibrahim's lawyer Thamer Hamoud al-Khuzaie was also wounded in the attack.

On 28 November 2005, Chief Judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin adjourned the trial until 5 December to allow time to find replacements for two defense lawyers who were slain and another who fled Iraq after he was wounded. On 5 December, Saddam's legal defense team stormed out of the court after questioning the tribunal's legitimacy, and asking about return of defence papers seized by US Army troops and security issues regarding the protection of the defense. Saddam, along with his co-defendants, railed against Chief Judge Amin and the tribunal. The next day, after listening to hours of testimony against him, he lashed out at the judge. He said that he was exhausted, he did not intend on returning to the trial, and to "go to hell".

On 7 December 2005, Saddam refused to enter court, complaining of the conditions in which he was being held and the conduct of the trial. Saddam's complaints included, among other things, that he had not been able to change his clothes for four days.

On 12 December 2005, instead of cross-examining witnesses, Saddam accused his American captors of torturing him, saying, "I have been beaten on every place of my body, and the signs are all over my body."

On 23 January 2006, Rauf Rashid Abd al-Rahman was nominated interim chief judge of the tribunal. He replaced former chief judge Rizgar Amin, also a Kurd, who resigned after complaining of government interference. Saddam and his co-defendants objected to the change in judge, citing bias after he ordered defendant Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti out of the court, and announced they would boycott the trial under Rahman.

On 29 January 2006, the trial was thrown in disarray after a courtroom session in which Saddam's half-brother Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti was dragged away by guards, the defence team walked out, and Saddam was ejected following a slanging match with chief judge Rauf Rashid Abd al-Rahman. Once order was restored, there was only half of the defendants and none of the defence team present.

On 1 February 2006, the defendants failed to show up in court.

On 15 March 2006, Saddam was called by the prosecution as a witness. On the stand, he began making political statements, insisting he was still President of Iraq. He got in an argument with the judge, who closed the trial to the public in response.

On 19 June 2006, Chief Prosecutor Jaafar al-Moussawi called for the death penalty for Saddam and four other defendants including Barzan al-Tikriti, Saddam's half-brother, Taha Yassin Ramadan, former Iraqi Vice President and Awad Hamed al-Bander, former chief judge of Saddam's Revolutionary Court. The suspects faced execution by hanging if convicted and sentenced to death.

On 21 June 2006, Saddam's chief defense lawyer, Khamis al-Obeidi, was assassinated in Baghdad. Protesting the lack of international protection for lawyers, Saddam began a hunger strike. On 23 June 2006, it was reported that Saddam ended his hunger strike, having missed one meal.

On 27 June 2006, two of Saddam Hussein's lawyers, Ramsey Clark, a former US Attorney-General, and Curtis Doebbler, held a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., to call for immediate security for all the Iraqi defense lawyers and to complain in a written statement that the trial was unfair, and was being conducted by the American authorities using Iraqis as a front. The two lawyers claimed that the United States had refused to provide adequate protection for the defense lawyers despite repeated requests that were made and that the United States was intentionally ensuring an unfair trial.