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.
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