You were not a dictator, judge tells Saddam

THE chief judge in Saddam Hussein’s genocide trial in Iraq said yesterday that he did not believe the former Iraqi leader was a dictator.

Judge Abdullah al-Amiri made his remark in a friendly chat with Saddam during court proceedings, a day after the prosecution asked him to step down, alleging bias toward the defendants.

Saddam was questioning a 57-year-old Kurdish witness, who testified that the ex-president aggressively told him to “shut up” when he pleaded for the release of nine missing relatives nearly two decades ago. “I wonder why this man (the witness) wanted to meet with me, if I am a dictator?” Saddam asked.

The judge interrupted: “You were not a dictator. People around you made you (look like) a dictator.”

“Thank you,” Saddam responded, bowing his head in respect.

Two hours after the comment about Saddam, Judge al-Amiri abruptly postponed the session until Monday for what he called “technical reasons,” without having heard from a third scheduled witness. No further explanation was given. Judge al-Amiri is a Sunni Muslim, like Saddam, and heads the five-judge panel overseeing the former Iraqi leader’s trial on charges of committing atrocities against Kurds in northern Iraq nearly two decades ago.

Yesterday, chief prosecutor Munqith al-Faroon demanded the judge step down, accusing him of bias toward the deposed leader and his co-defendants.

Elsewhere in Iraq, US forces said they had arrested a senior al-Qaida terrorist and personal associate of the group’s new leader. The unidentified man was arrested on Tuesday and was the leader of assassination, kidnapping and bomb-making cells in Baghdad, Maj Gen William Caldwell said.

Meanwhile, car bombs and drive-by shootings killed at least 18 people, including two US soldiers, in a series of attacks around central Iraq, officials said.

The bodies of 20 men were also discovered across Baghdad, a day after more than 60 bodies were found dumped on the streets.