ICTJ in the News

November 5, 2006

Rights groups say Saddam trial was flawed

Reuters

By Peter Graff

LONDON, Nov 5 (Reuters) - The trial that sentenced Saddam Hussein to hang was flawed and may fail to persuade Iraqis that justice has been done, rights groups and legal experts said on Sunday.

The deposed Iraqi leader and two aides were handed the death penalty for their roles in the deaths of more than 140 Shi'ite Muslims from the farming village of Dujail, killed after a failed attempt to assassinate Saddam in 1982.

Official responses were predictable.

The United States -- which deposed Saddam, set up the court, funded it and provided its security -- called it a good day for Iraq. Iraq's government said Saddam had got what he deserved.

Saddam's lawyers called the trial a "mockery of justice".

But rights groups said the year-long trial -- during the course of which three defence lawyers were murdered and the original judge quit citing political interference -- did not meet the standards that would allow it to settle the question.

"The court was not impartial. There were not adequate steps taken to protect the security of defence lawyers and witnesses," said Malcolm Smart, head of the Middle East and North Africa Programme for Amnesty International.

"Every individual has a right to a fair trial, even people accused of crimes of the magnitude that Saddam Hussein was accused of, and this has not been a fair trial."

U.S. officials say the trial met Iraqi legal standards, and that defence lawyers who were killed had been offered better security, but turned it down.

The Dujail case was the first against Saddam, but far from the biggest. One concern for those hoping that the trials would promote reconciliation has been that a death sentence in this first case could prevent others from being heard.

The second case is already under way, with Saddam accused of genocide for killing 180,000 Kurds in the 1980s. That trial was criticised by rights groups after the government sacked its chief judge for saying Saddam was "not a dictator".

The New York-based International Center for Transitional Justice, which has monitored the Dujail trial closely with staff in Baghdad, said appeals judges should consider ordering a re-trial to fix its flaws.

"It's not a sham trial by any means. But there were lots of errors and mistakes along the way, as they were learning," said Hanny Megally, the ICTJ's expert on justice in the Middle East.

"And in all fairness, unless they put those right, it would be impossible to meet the standards of fairness."

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour, who opposes the death penalty in all cases, said Iraq should guarantee fair appeals, and should not carry out executions.

"Those convicted today should have every opportunity to exhaust their appellate remedies in a fair way, and whatever the outcome of an appeal, I hope the Government will observe a moratorium on executions," she said in a statement.