Chaos as Saddam’s lawyers leave court

SADDAM HUSSEIN’S trial turned chaotic shortly after resuming yesterday, with one defendant dragged out of court and the defence team walking out in protest.

The former Iraqi leader was then escorted from the room minutes after shouting “down with America!”

Seeking to assert tight control, the new chief judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman pressed ahead with the proceedings even after the opening drama, hearing three prosecution witnesses before adjourning the trial after four and a half hours.

Judge Abdel-Rahman said the trial will continue Wednesday or Thursday, depending on the date of the Islamic new year, which is set according to the sighting of a new moon. He was installed as chief judge after his predecessor resigned amid complaints he was not doing enough to rein in Saddam’s frequent outbursts.

Defence lawyers said the stormy session showed the trial was not fair - a vital concern in a nation that is trying to reconcile its Sunni Arab minority and the Shi’ite Muslim majority that controls the government.

Former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark, who is part of Saddam’s defence team but did not attend yesterday’s session, denounced the court as “lawless” and repeated calls for it to be moved out of Iraq.

“Now the court is seated without the defendants’ counsel of choice. This is wrong. They have the right to their own counsel and for that counsel to hear and question testimony made against the defendants,” Mr Clark said in New York.

Saddam and his seven co-defendants are charged in the deaths of about 140 Shi’ite Muslims following an assassination attempt against the former Iraqi leader in the Shi’ite town of Dujail in 1982. The defendants could face death by hanging if convicted.

Yesterday’s proceedings, the first in over a month, disintegrated almost immediately into shouting and insults.

First, co-defendant Barzan Ibrahim, who is Saddam’s half-brother and former intelligence chief, was dragged out of the room by guards after he stood and called the court “the daughter of a whore.” Saddam shouted “down with traitors” and “down with America!”

Then Judge Abdel-Rahman, a Kurd, threw out a defence attorney for arguing with him. The rest of the defence team left in protest as the judge shouted, “Any lawyer who walks out will not be allowed back into this courtroom.”

The judge appointed four new defence lawyers, but Saddam stood to reject them and demand to leave the courtroom, holding a copy of the Koran and other papers under his arm.

Two other defendants also rejected their new lawyers and were allowed to leave.

The proceedings resumed with the four remaining defendants and none of their original lawyers.