Saddam’s trial started in Baghdad this morning. Again, he questioned the validity of the court proceedings and then pleaded not guilty to the charged brought before him today.
Saddam, and seven other defendants, are first being charged with killing of 148 Shia men in 1982. The case concerns the rounding up and execution of 148 men in Dujail, a Shia village north of Baghdad, following an attempt there on Saddam Hussein’s life. The other co-accused are Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, his half-brother who was his intelligence chief; former Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan; Awad Hamed al-Bandar, a former chief judge; and Dujail Baath party officials Abdullah Kadhem Ruaid, Ali Daeem Ali, Mohammed Azawi Ali and Mizher Abdullah Rawed.
The prosecution has an air-tight case, with reams of evidence, including a CD ROM with videos of witnesses and reports on the killings of these Shia men. Court officials say the case was chosen because it was the easiest and quickest case to compile.
If found guilty, defendants are meant to be hanged within 30 days of the appeals process being exhausted, according to the tribunal statutes.
However, prosecution lawyers also want to bring charges concerning the gassing of 5,000 people in the Kurdish village of Halabja in March 1988, and the suppression of a Shia revolt following the first Gulf War.
Saddam’s defense on this first charge will be, according to the legal pundits, that they were legal killings – much in the same way that the criminals put to death in Texas under George W. Bush’s term as Governor were legal, so were these killings.
Amid some verbal sparring with the judge, the former Iraqi leader stated: “I preserve my constitutional rights as the president of Iraq. I do not recognise the body that has authorised you and I don’t recognise this aggression.
“What is based on injustice is unjust … I do not respond to this so-called court, with all due respect.” [Source]
I didn’t realize there was a constitution in Iraq – let alone the right to remain silent. /shrug Still asserting that he is, indeed, the President of Iraq. He could receive the death penalty if convicted.
But human rights groups have expressed concerns.
A Human Rights Watch report says the Iraqi Special Tribunal “runs the risk of violating international standards for fair trials”.
Amnesty International has sent three delegates to Baghdad to ensure Saddam Hussein receives a fair trial, and to oppose the death penalty if he is found guilty.
The trial is being televised in Iraq, as well. The televised trial is also being interspersed with documentatries on Saddam’s other atrocities while in power, to remind the Iraqi people exactly the kind of tyrannt Saddam Hussein was, while in power as the leader of Iraq.
Related in the news: Defiant Saddam pleads not guilty , Trial under world spotlight, Eldest Daughter Says Saddam ‘Courageous’, Key Quotes: Saddam’s Trial, Hussein Defiantly Proclaims Innocence in Court
Related on blogs: California Conservative: Saddam On Trial, Libery Just In Case: Saddam’s First Trial – An Eyewitness Account, Michelle Malkin: THE TRIAL OF SADDAM HUSSEIN, Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: Weeping for a Mass Murderer, La Shawn Barber: Saddam Hussein: Still Feisty After All These Months
A Human Rights Watch report says the Iraqi Special Tribunal “runs the risk of violating international standards for fair trialsâ€. - Of course it does. What was their reaction to the killings he is charged with?
I was expecting to be toasting his hanging on Thanksgiving. With any luck, we will ring in the New Year without him:!:
Will this be the real trial of the century will it be broadcast worldwide will become a fiasco like O.J. SIMPSON and MICHEAL JACKSON? will it be anything like nurimburgh? or will it be just another kagaroo court?:lol:
Of course Saddam is not guilty! O.J. wasn’t guilty, and neither are any of the “detainees” at Guantanamo! In fact the Guantanamo detainees were not combatants trying to kill American soldiers, they were just local herdsmen who found a cache of weapons and were bringing them to the Americans to turn them in!!! Being unspophisticated shepherds, how were they to know the weapons were locked and loaded? And how could it possibly be their fault that as they approached the Americans, some of the weapons acidentally discharged? Hmmm??? See???
You see how everything is different when looked at through the eyes of a mentally ill Leftist ACLU supporter.
I LMAO at all of these “human rights” groups who suddenly come out of the woodwork every time there is the slightest issue in the news about something the U.S. is doing, but are totally silent for mass murder and genocide.
Why, if the Gitmo detainees don’t get their morning coffee, or their donuts are stale, that is a grievous international human rights violation! But commies murder a million people? zzzzzzzzzzz……
It is not uncommon for anyone to plead not guilty. Of course he did. Had he plead guilty, would there have been a need for a trial? The better part of this article goes on to show us that a. This is GWB’s fault and b. Look at the support Saddam gets from the press.
He can’t be President of Iraq any more. He doesn’t have the Presidential Beret.
Before they hang Saddam, there should be a special platform built to allow each and every Iraqi to wipe their shoes on Saddam’s face.
If you remember back to when Saddam’s statues where pulled down, you’ll remember people wiping their shoes on the face of the statue as a gross insult to Saddam.
Actually, I’d like to let every Iraqi belt Saddam in the mouth like the interpreter did when Saddam was captured, but I don’t think Saddam’s face would hold up for long.
Has anyone noticed the MSM’s treatment of the Saddam trial, juxtaposed with the Delay, Rove “indictments”?????
holy fuck.
7, then reporters and liberal pundits wonder why people want to string them up and beat on them like a pinata.
Mike, yes, just another propaganda technique by them. People that think for themselves spot this sort of thing right away.
DeLay is going to jail….
Frist is going to jail….
Scooter is going to jail….
Rove is going to jail….
Hell, maybe even Dick is going to jail….
…Republicans are showing their true colors….
Saddam needs to be killed out of hand, but that will not happen right now.
But remember saddam is nothing but a sideshow and keep your eyes on Iran!