ICTJ in the News

January 15, 2006

Chief judge in Saddam Hussein's trial wants to quit

USA Today

By Rick Jervis, USA TODAY

BAGHDAD — The presiding judge in the war crimes trial of Saddam Hussein has asked to resign, officials involved in the trial said Sunday.

The resignation of Rizgar Mohammad Amin, chief of the five-judge panel, isn't official unless accepted by the Cabinet and presidency council, said Basam Ridha, a liaison to the court for Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari.

Amin's resignation would be the latest setback in a trial plagued by delays and courtroom disruptions since it began Oct. 19. Another judge and two defense lawyers have been assassinated.

As chief judge, Amin has been the public face of the trial, which is to resume Jan. 24. The identities of the other four judges have been kept secret for security reasons.

The deposed Iraqi dictator and other former Baath Party leaders are being tried in the massacre of residents from the mostly Shiite town of Dujail in 1982. Amin has struggled to balance a speedy prosecution with a fair trial.

"From day one, he's been under a lot of pressure," Ridha said. "He just couldn't take it anymore."

Cabinet ministers should hear the issue at a meeting this week, possibly Wednesday or Thursday, Ridha said.

Even if Amin's resignation is accepted, the trial could resume Jan. 24 as scheduled. The law that created the tribunal allows for a replacement judge to be named.
   
Ridha said Amin complained about verbal assaults on him by Iraqi politicians who said he was too lenient toward Saddam and seven co-defendants. Saddam has disrupted court proceedings several times. He has declared the trial illegitimate, debated witnesses, complained of torture by his U.S. jailers and griped about his living conditions.

Amin has patiently listened to the outbursts and addressed Saddam by the respectful title of sayyid — or "mister" — which has not sat well with many in Iraq, Ridha said.

Last month, Iraqi Justice Minister Abdel Hussein Shandal said the judges were "incompetent" for failing to deal with "suspects who violated court procedures in public."

Ridha said Amin struggled with his sudden prominence. Inside the heavily fortified Green Zone, international aid workers and Western officials stopped to have their picture taken with the Kurdish judge, he said.

Privately, Amin bristled at criticism, Ridha said. "He couldn't sleep, he couldn't face people," Ridha said. "He was like in a table tennis match. He was the ball being bounced around."

Colleagues tried to dissuade Amin from resigning. Chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Mousawi said, "I asked him personally, as friends, why he was doing that. He told me, 'I can't stand any more the criticisms I get from the street or from TV. This is my fault, and I feel sad because of it all, so my duty is to resign.' "

The tribunal has been slowed for a variety of reasons. It has gone through three administrative directors, said Miranda Sissons, an official with the International Center for Transitional Justice who has been monitoring the trial.

In addition to the killing of one judge, five other members of the tribunal staff have been killed, she said.

Amin's resignation will not affect the legal pace of the trial, Sissons said, but it shows that pressure from the public and politicians is having an impact on proceedings. "This is a worrying development for the tribunal," she said.