The trial of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein descended into chaos under its new judge yesterday as Saddam left the court, his half-brother was ejected and the entire defense team walked out.
New Kurdish judge Rauf Rasheed Abdel Rahman, appointed from outside the chamber, attempted immediately to stamp his authority on the trial after the controversial resignation of his predecessor Rizkar Mohammed Amin.
Abdel Rahman's strict demeanour contrasted with the more flexible manner of Amin and the hardline approach led to the expulsion of half the defendants and the departure of all defense lawyers within minutes of the trial opening.
Saddam launched into one of the furious tirades against the court that have marked previous sessions, angrily pointing his finger at the judge and questioning the legitimacy of the tribunal.
"I want to leave the court," Saddam, red-faced with anger, told the judge, who replied that he could leave the court and then ordered the former dictator out.
"I led you for 35 years and you order me out of the court," Saddam retorted.
"I am the judge, you are the defendant. You have to obey me," the judge said.
Saddam said "this is an American court, not an Iraqi court."
Prior to the verbal exchange between Saddam and the judge, the defense lawyers walked out. Attorneys appointed by the court then arrived.
"Anyone appointed by you we reject them. This is my right, to give up my right to an attorney," Saddam said.
After further verbal exchanges, Saddam walked out, escorted by guards.
Shortly after the trial opened, Barzan Ibrahim Hassan al-Tikriti, half-brother of Saddam and one of the co-defendants in his trial, was physically ejected from the court by guards on order of the new judge.
"Get him out," said the balding judge after Barzan stood up to deliver a lengthy statement about his medical condition. Before being ejected, Barzan called the court a "daughter of a whore."
Two other defendants Taha Yassin Ramadan and Awad Ahmad al-Bander al-Sadun also left the court a few minutes later, leaving four minor former Baath party officials as the only defendants in court.
After the four defendants exited from the court, an unidentified female witness gave testimony from behind a beige curtain on the killing of 148 inhabitants of the Shiite village of Dujail in 1982.
She said her husband, a non-commissioned officer during the Saddam regime, was tortured to death during the Dujail massacre, for which Saddam and his seven co-defendants could face the death penalty.
She was jailed in the infamous Abu Ghraib prison where she saw young people beaten.
"My relatives were all tortured in front of us. They [guards] said there should be no noise, but how do you make no noise with children with you?" she said.
The court has been plagued by problems since its inception, with the first session of the new year last week adjourned early owing to what the court said was the absence of the necessary witnesses.
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