A thinner but combative Saddam Hussein told a tribunal he would rather die by firing squad like a soldier than hang "like a common criminal," as the defiant ex-president made his final appearance before the panel until it renders a verdict.
The prosecution has asked for the death penalty for Saddam and two of the other seven defendants for their role in the deaths of Shiites in a crackdown following a 1982 assassination attempt against the Iraqi ruler in Dujail.
Saddam, dressed in a white open-collar shirt and dark jacket, was in court on Wednesday to hear his court-appointed attorney read a final summation, arguing that prosecution witnesses and documents failed to link the ex-president to any of the atrocities in Dujail.
But that did not sit well with the 69-year-old Saddam, who denounced the lawyer as his "enemy" and claimed the summation was drafted by foreigners he accused of manipulating the trial since it began Oct. 19.
Saddam also said he was brought by the Americans against his will from a hospital, where he was rushed on Sunday on the 17th day of a hunger strike and fed through a tube.
Despite more than two weeks without food, Saddam seemed thinner but no less vigorous, although his energy appeared to wane in the final minutes of the hearing.
"I was brought against my will directly from the hospital," Saddam told the chief judge, Raouf Abdel-Rahman. "The Americans insisted that I come against my will. This is not fair."
In a rambling statement that was often interrupted by the judge, Saddam said he would rather die by firing squad and "not by hanging as a common criminal" if he is convicted and sentenced to death.
"I ask you, being an Iraqi person, that if you reach a verdict of death, execution, remember that I am a military man and should be killed by firing squad and not by hanging as a common criminal," said Saddam, who never served in the military ranks but appointed himself a general after taking power in 1979.
That brought a rebuke from Abdel-Rahman, who reminded Saddam the five-judge panel has not finished the trial, much less reached a verdict.
The judge also challenged Saddam's assertion that he had been brought to court against his will.
"You were not brought here against your will," the judge said. "Here's the medical report ... and it indicates that you are in good shape."
"I didn't say I was ill," Saddam snapped back. "I was on a hunger strike."
Saddam repeated a theme he has voiced since the start of the trial -- that the Iraqi High Tribunal is an illegal instrument of the US occupation and that a fair trial is impossible.
"We not only resist this occupation. We do not acknowledge it. We do not acknowledge all the decisions it has made, including appointing the so-called government and this court you represent," Saddam said.
After arguing with the judge, Saddam, pointing his finger defiantly, barked: "Not even 1,000 people like you can terrify me."
Referring to the Americans, Saddam added: "The invaders only understand the language of the gun. I am in prison, but the knights outside will liberate the country."
During one outburst, Abdel-Rahman accused Saddam of inciting violence against Iraqis.
"I am inciting the killing of Americans and invaders, not the killing of Iraqis," Saddam responded.
"I am Saddam Hussein. I call on Iraqis to be in harmony and work on evicting the invaders," he added.
Abdel-Rahman asked if that were true why insurgents were killing more Iraqi civilians than American soldiers.
"Why are they attacking Iraqis in coffee shops and markets? Why don't they go detonate themselves among Americans?" the judge asked.
Saddam snapped: "This case is not worth the urine of an Iraqi child."
He then called on his supporters to kill Americans, saying, "If you see an American vehicle and you can strike it," before being cut off when the judge switched off his microphones.
With much pomp and circumstance, Cairo is today to inaugurate the long-awaited Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), widely presented as the crowning jewel on authorities’ efforts to overhaul the country’s vital tourism industry. With a panoramic view of the Giza pyramids plateau, the museum houses thousands of artifacts spanning more than 5,000 years of Egyptian antiquity at a whopping cost of more than US$1 billion. More than two decades in the making, the ultra-modern museum anticipates 5 million visitors annually, with never-before-seen relics on display. In the run-up to the grand opening, Egyptian media and official statements have hailed the “historic moment,” describing the
‘CHILD PORNOGRAPHY’: The doll on Shein’s Web site measure about 80cm in height, and it was holding a teddy bear in a photo published by a daily newspaper France’s anti-fraud unit on Saturday said it had reported Asian e-commerce giant Shein (希音) for selling what it described as “sex dolls with a childlike appearance.” The French Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) said in a statement that the “description and categorization” of the items on Shein’s Web site “make it difficult to doubt the child pornography nature of the content.” Shortly after the statement, Shein announced that the dolls in question had been withdrawn from its platform and that it had launched an internal inquiry. On its Web site, Le Parisien daily published a
UNCERTAIN TOLLS: Images on social media showed small protests that escalated, with reports of police shooting live rounds as polling stations were targeted Tanzania yesterday was on lockdown with a communications blackout, a day after elections turned into violent chaos with unconfirmed reports of many dead. Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan had sought to solidify her position and silence criticism within her party in the virtually uncontested polls, with the main challengers either jailed or disqualified. In the run-up, rights groups condemned a “wave of terror” in the east African nation, which has seen a string of high-profile abductions that ramped up in the final days. A heavy security presence on Wednesday failed to deter hundreds protesting in economic hub Dar es Salaam and elsewhere, some
Flooding in Vietnam has killed at least 10 people this week as the water level of a major river near tourist landmarks reached a 60-year high, authorities said yesterday. Vietnam’s coastal provinces, home to UNESCO world heritage site Hoi An ancient town, have been pummeled by heavy rain since the weekend, with a record of up to 1.7m falling over 24 hours. At least 10 people have been killed, while eight others are missing, the Vietnamese Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment said. More than 128,000 houses in five central provinces have been inundated, with water 3m deep in some areas. People waded through
RSS