ICTJ in the News

December 23, 2005

Court struggles to make case in Saddam trial

Agence France Presse

(Carried by Middle East Online and the Independent Online, others)

By Paul Schemm

Baghdad - During a break in Thursday's trial of deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, a journalist asked the investigating judge why the chief judge didn't have a gavel to keep order.

"He does have a gavel; it's there by his side," said Raed al-Juhi, responding to one of the biggest questions emerging from the early days of thetrial.

Spectators at the trial of Saddam and seven others for the massacre of more than 140 Shi'as in the town of Dujail wonder why Judge Rizkar Mohammed Amin doesn't assert more control, as witnesses ramble on, prosecutors get angry and defendants grandstand.

While the court seems to be chaotic and disorderly, legal experts maintain there is forward movement with the screening of 15 witnesses so far and more control over the defendants.

"It is notable that the judge has succeeded in getting (the defendants) to address the issues in the case to greater degree," said Nehal Bhuta of Human Rights Watch, noting that most of the comments by defendants in the past two sessions at least pertained to the testimony.

"The court does need to manage this better, to reduce exchanges of insults or shouting at witnesses and to keep the defendants on point," he added.

The latest sessions were marked by insults hurled by the defendants, particularly Saddam's half brother, Barzan, who called one witness a dog and exchanged harsh words with the prosecutors.

"It's quite common for defendants to fight for control and assume control of the court room," said Miranda Sissons, a senior associate at the International Center for Transitional Justice. "It's happened in Sierra Leone; it certainly happened in the Milosevic trial."

"It's not unusual for something like this to be happening but it's very unfortunate for the judges that this is happening in the bright white light of television and in the Iraqi public arena with some very wily defendants who are extremely at home using the microphone," she added.

Saddam, in particular, has taken advantage of the Amin's tolerant attitude and used the dock as a soapbox to condemn the US occupation and remind Iraqis of the 35 years of achievements of the Baath party in Iraq.

Saddam's antics do strike a chord with Iraqis chafing under the humiliation of the occupation and yearning for the halcyon days of Iraq's stability and power.

Many Iraqis also take the point of Barzan, when he justified on Thursday the arrests and interrogations of Dujail in light of the assassination attempt against Saddam.

"There is no reason to judge him for Dujail. Anyone in his place would have done what he did if he had been the target of an assassination attempt," said 23-year-old Ahmed Khalaf, a Sunni Arab from Anbar province.

This kind of public reaction comes back to one of the biggest failings of the court for a number of international observers, namely not making clear the charges against the defendants and their connection to the events.

While the testimony of 14 witnesses has painted a vivid picture of what happened in Dujail and the extreme torture that so many people underwent, the connection to Saddam and the co-defendants is not made clear.

"I remain concerned that, as yet, we have not been presented with evidence that traces the chain of command and establishes the specific role of each defendant," said Bhuta.

Sissons explains that this is always the central challenge of these kinds of trials, linking the crimes done on the ground to the leadership.

"It's often challenging to make the link between the leaders of the system and the victims on the spot, but it has to be done," she said.

"Those links can and should be made, but they haven't been made yet."

The tribunal is following the Iraqi criminal procedure and subsequent stages will feature eye witnesses and documentary evidence and finally the issue of formal charges that will more clearly link the defendants to the crimes detailed by the complainant witnesses.

For the Iraqi public, however, these links are not clear from early sessions and people are either angered at the humiliation of their former leader or enraged by the amount of time he is given to grandstand.

"It would be very greatly to the advantage of the court to make a strong efforts to reach out to the Iraqi public and actually say what's going on," said Sissons.