September 14, 2005
BAGHDAD,
Iraq - The chief judge in Saddam Hussein’s genocide trial said Thursday that he
does not believe Saddam was a dictator.
Judge
Abdullah al-Amiri made the remark in a friendly exchange with the deposed
leader, a day after the prosecution said the judge should step down because he
is biased toward the defense. Saddam and his co-defendants are being tried on
charges of committing atrocities against Kurds in northern Iraq nearly two
decades ago.
Questioning
a Kurdish witness Thursday, Saddam said, “I wonder why this man wanted to meet
with me, if I am a dictator?”
The
judge interrupted: “You were not a dictator. People around you made you (look
like) a dictator.”
“Thank
you,” Saddam responded, bowing his head in respect.
Two
hours after the comment about Saddam, al-Amiri abruptly postponed the session
until Monday for what he called “technical reasons,” without having heard from
a third scheduled witness. No further explanation was given.
Al-Amiri
heads the five-judge panel that oversees the trial and will deliver the
verdict. A Shiite Muslim in his mid-50s, he has been a judge for 25 years,
serving a substantial portion of that time under Saddam’s regime.
The
panel will vote on guilt or innocence and a majority decision will be final.
Saddam
lashed out Tuesday against what he called “agents of Iran and Zionism” and
vowed to “crush your heads” after listening to Kurdish witnesses tell of the
horrors allegedly committed by his fallen regime.
The
next day, Chief Prosecutor Munqith al-Faroon demanded al-Amiri step down,
accusing him of bias toward the deposed leader and his co-defendants.
“You
allowed this court to become a political podium for the defendants,” al-Faroon
told al-Amiri.
The
prosecutor said the judge was giving Saddam time to make “political” statements
that were irrelevant to the proceedings.
Kurdis
tells of meeting with Saddam
On
Thursday, the first witness, a 57-year-old Kurdish farmer, testified that
Saddam aggressively told him to “shut up” when he pleaded for the release of
nine relatives who disappeared in an offensive on his northern Iraqi village
nearly two decades ago.
“I told
Saddam, ’Sir, my family members were arrested,”’ Abdullah Mohammed Hussein
recounted.
“Saddam
asked me where, and I told him, ’in my village.’ Saddam said, ’Shut up. Your
family is gone in the Anfal,”’ Hussein said, referring to Iraq’s 1987-88
campaign to suppress a Kurdish revolt in northern Iraq.
The
witness looked anxious as he gave the opening testimony in the fourth court
session this week.
Hussein
said he had not been shy about arguing with Saddam, whom he had been allowed to
see in response to a plea he presented to local authorities in his village.
Speaking
in Kurdish through an Arabic translator, Hussein said Saddam told him, “Shut
up. Don’t talk anymore. Get out of here.”
“I
saluted him, saying, ’Yes, sir.’ And I left. I consoled myself, thinking that
Saddam may feel sorry for me and set my family free. I was very sad. But I
really hoped he would release them,” Hussein said.
Previous
witnesses said the remains of relatives who went missing during Operation Anfal
were found in mass graves several years later. Some recalled how they survived
chemical attacks allegedly carried out by Saddam’s regime against the Kurdish
population.
Saddam
has accused the Kurdish witnesses of trying to sow ethnic division in Iraq by
alleging chemical attacks and mass arrests in their villages during a crackdown
in the late 1980s.
Saddam
and six others, including his cousin “Chemical” Ali al-Majid, have been accused
of genocide and other offenses in connection with Operation Anfal.
The
prosecution alleges that about 180,000 Kurds died — many of them civilians.
Saddam and the others could face death by hanging if convicted.