The chief judge in Saddam Hussein's genocide trial threw the ex-president out of the courtroom yesterday in a stormy session boycotted by the former ruler's defense team.
"I have a request here that I don't want to be in this cage any more" Saddam said, referring to the court.
He waved a yellow paper before he spoke to chief judge Mohammed Oreibi al-Khalifa.
PHOTO: EPA
Al-Khalifa snapped back: "I'm the presiding judge. I decide about your presence here. Get him out!" -- pointing to guards to take Saddam out.
"You need to show respect to the court and the case, and those who don't show it, I'm sorry, but I have to apply the law," the judge said.
The exchange began when Sabri al-Douri, director of military intelligence under Saddam, referred to a fellow co-defendant -- Sultan Hashim Ahmad al-Tai -- by his former rank of lieutenant general.
The judge then said that the defendants could not be referred to by their former rank.
An angry Saddam then insisted that he be allowed to leave and the judge ordered him out of the courtroom.
Saddam and six co-defendants have been on trial since Aug. 21 for their roles in a crackdown against Kurdish guerrillas in the late 1980s. The prosecution says about 180,000 people, mostly civilians, died in the crackdown, codenamed Operation Anfal.
Yesterday's session got off to a rough start when the defense attorneys followed through on their threat to boycott the proceedings to protest the replacement of the chief judge and other alleged irregularities.
Several other lawyers representing other defendants were also absent when the session began. The judge appointed replacement lawyers so the trial could proceed.
Al-Douri and another defendant, former intelligence official Farhan Mutlak Saleh, complained to the judge that they did not accept their court-appointed attorneys.
"Did I dismiss your attorney?" the judge asked "He just walked out!"
The judge told Saleh that he would be given time with his court-appointed attorney to plan a defense.
Saleh said: "Good, that's all I ask."
In announcing the boycott, Khalil al-Dulaimi, Saddam's chief lawyer, complained that last week's decision to replace chief judge Abdullah al-Amiri violated judicial rules.
Al-Dulaimi also protested the court's refusal to hear non-Iraqi lawyers and its demand that foreign attorneys seek permission to enter the courtroom.
Among Saddam's nine lawyers are a Jordanian, a Spaniard, a Frenchman and two Americans, including former US attorney general Ramsey Clark.
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