ICTJ in the News

November 5, 2006

Rights groups condemn Saddam trial

Agence France-Presse

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch today condemned the death sentences handed to Saddam Hussein and two of his senior allies for crimes against humanity.
Amnesty described their trial as a "shabby affair, marred by serious flaws".

The London-based human rights group - which opposes capital punishment - said the trial should have helped the process of establishing justice and the rule of law in Iraq but was in fact "deeply flawed and unfair".

"This trial should have been a major contribution towards establishing justice and the rule of law in Iraq, and in ensuring truth and accountability for the massive human rights violations perpetrated by Saddam Hussein's rule," said Malcolm Smart, director of the Middle East and North Africa program.

"In practice, it has been a shabby affair, marred by serious flaws that call into question the capacity of the tribunal, as currently established, to administer justice fairly, in conformity with international standards."

Amnesty charged that "political interference undermined the independence and impartiality of the court", prompting the first presiding judge to resign and the appointment of another to be blocked. The court also failed to take adequate measures to protect witnesses and defence lawyers, three of whom were killed during the trial, it said.
Saddam himself was denied access to legal counsel for the first year after his arrest, while there appeared to have been inadequate responses to complaints by lawyers throughout the judicial process, Amnesty said.

"Every accused has a right to a fair trial, whatever the magnitude of the charge against them. This plain fact was routinely ignored through the decades of Saddam Hussein's tyranny," Mr Smart continued.

"His overthrow opened the opportunity to restore this basic right and, at the same time, to ensure, fairly, accountability for the crimes of the past. It is an opportunity missed."
Human Rights Watch (HRW) also slammed the trial and sentence. The trial "was a failure to establish an indisputable record of the facts and a sense of responsibility for what happened," HRW's director for international justice Richard Dicker said from New York. "It was a lost opportunity to give a sense of the rule of law and a loss for the victims in that the trial and verdict are unlikely to stand the test of time," he said.

Marieke Wierda, an expert on international tribunals at the International Centre for Transitional Justice, hit out at what she said were "basic issues of equality between the prosecution and defence".

"The trial falls short, not just of international standards but of the standards they set themselves," she said from the US. She said there was little evidence presented against the "lesser defendants for unspecific charges, which makes it very difficult because you have to defend yourself against everything".

Ms Wierda said that while the defendants were given ample opportunity to speak in court, "that's not the same as allowing a full defence". Amnesty said it would follow closely the appeal stage, the procedure for which begins tomorrow, saying the Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal had a chance to "redress the flaws" of the original trial.