The trial of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was marred by chaotic scenes yesterday after the defense team briefly walked out of the tribunal and Saddam shouted a tirade of impassioned abuse at the court.
The dramatic scenes, which prompted a 90-minute recess of the tribunal to solve the problems, were a further setback for the court which has previously held just two brief sessions after two earlier adjournments.
The defense team for Saddam and seven of his top lieutenants returned to the room 90 minutes after judge Mohammed Rizkar Amin agreed to let them address the court after previously refusing to do so without a written request.
From the dock, a bearded and neatly suited Saddam interrupted the dispute demanding: "How is it [the court] legitimate when it was set up under the occupation?"
The chief defendant refused to have lawyers appointed by the court and stood up to shout at the top of his voice: "Long live Iraq. Long live the Arab nation. Long live Iraq."
He and seven of his most senior deputies are on trial for the massacre of 148 people from the Shiite village of Dujail in 1982, for which all the accused could face the death penalty.
Former US attorney general Ramsey Clark, who is representing Saddam, said the fairness of the trial was paramount and demanded better protection for all nine lawyers.
Referring to the dire security situation in Iraq, Clark said the trial had a fundamental role to play in either healing or dividing the troubled country.
"This trial can either divide or heal. Unless it is seen absolutely fair and is absolutely fair it will irreconcilably divide Iraq," he said, calling for improved protection for lawyers.
"There is virtually no protection for the nine Iraqi lawyers and their families who are heroically here to try to protect truth and justice," he said.
"Without that protection a fair trial is not possible ... If every form of participation in the judicial process is not protected the judicial system will fail and be destroyed," he said.
Former Qatari justice minister Najib Nuaimi, also a defense lawyer, insisted that the court examine its own legitimacy before proceeding with the nitty gritty of the trial, claims that critics of the already slow process are likely to dismiss as merely time-wasting tactics.
Officials close to the court had been hoping that this time a full four days of hearings featuring 10 witnesses is possible before the court adjourns again in time for Iraq's parliamentary elections on Dec.15.
At least three witnesses were due to appear yesterday.
But amid fears over their security, only two witnesses were to appear in court and be filmed by television cameras relaying the trial to the world, a US official close to the tribunal.
Another six were to appear in the court but without being filmed. The final two were expected to speak from behind a screen, said the official, who asked not to be named.
Dozens of Iraqis in his former hometown Tikrit demonstrated in support of Saddam, while a symbolic protest against him took place outside the Green Zone in Baghdad where the trial is taking place. There, a tent of 18 people who have lost relatives to Saddam's regime, one from each of Iraq's provinces, has been set up.
"We ask for the hanging Saddam and his aides and we ask for an immediate trial," read the banners.
The whole process has been criticized by the Shiites for a slow beginning with a brief opening session on Oct. 19, followed by a 40-day delay and then a two hour session on Nov. 28, and then a week-long adjournment.
The trial has been plagued by a range of problems since its inception, most notably serious security issues.
On Sunday, Iraqi security forces announced they foiled one insurgent group's plot to fire rockets at the court building.
Police previously said they discovered a plot to assassinate the court's top investigative judge, while two defense lawyers were assassinated.
Aside from Saddam and his half-brother Barzan al-Tikriti, head of intelligence at the time of the massacre, the defendants include Taha Yassin Ramadan, Saddam's former vice president and Awad Ahmed al-Bandar, head judge of the revolutionary court.
There are also four little known Baath officials who worked in Dujail at the time of the alleged massacre, which took place after an assassination attempt against Saddam's convoy. All have pleaded not guilty.
In the last session, the court was shown testimony from wheelchair-bound Waddah Ismail al-Sheikh, a former intelligence official, who implicated Barzan in the Dujail massacre.
The official died after the recording was made.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in