Saddam and co-defendants on hunger strike

Saddam Hussein’s former intelligence chief, Ibrahim Barzan, today insisted that he ordered the release of dozens of prisoners, making his most lively defence yet on charges he was involved in torture and executions in a crackdown against Shiites in the 1980s.

Saddam, Ibrahim and two other defendants also told the court they were on hunger strike to protest against the tough stances of chief judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman, who took over the court last month and has worked to impose order in a court where outbursts and arguments have frequently overshadowed the testimony.

Saddam said he hadn’t eaten in three days, while Ibrahim said he’d been on strike for two days. Their claims of a hunger strike could not be independently confirmed. The defendants are being held in US detention, and US officials could not immediately be reached to comment.

One Iraqi judge who had previously been on the five-judge panel hearing Saddam’s case but was later removed, dismissed the claims of a strike, saying he believed the defendants were just showboating.

“This is not true, Saddam and other defendants are trying to use politics again to complicate and derail the trial,” judge Saeed al-Hamashi said.

Ibrahim’s statement today was the first time any of the eight defendants in Saddam’s turbulent trial have given a lengthy account of their role in the crackdown that followed a 1982 attempt on the former Iraqi leader’s life in the Shiite town of Dujail.

Saddam and his seven co-defendants are on trial in the killing of nearly 150 Shiite Muslims in Dujail. If convicted, they could face the death penalty by hanging.

Since the trial began, Saddam and Ibrahim – the former leader’s half-brother and the No. 2 defendant – have only dealt with the court with contempt, interrupting it with outbursts, arguments and insults.

Today’s session began in much the same way. Saddam entered and shouted his support for Iraqi insurgents, yelling “Long live the mujahedeen.” He argued with Abdel-Rahman, at one point telling the judge, “Hit your own head with that gavel.”

Ibrahim also entered the court shouting slogans – and wearing only his long underwear for the second day in a row in a sign of his rejection of the court.

But after a short period of shouting with the defendants, Abdel-Rahman quickly began hearing prosecution witnesses, starting with a former intelligence official who spoke from behind a screen to hide his identity.

Ibrahim cross-examined the witness, but then addressed the court for nearly a half-hour, denying any role in the crackdown in Dujail. Abdel-Rahman allowed him to speak, largely uninterrupted.

Ibrahim said he went to Dujail on the day that gunmen opened fire on Saddam’s motorcade, then returned the following day. He claimed he ordered the release of 80 detainees held at the ruling Baath Party’s headquarters in the town.

“I released everyone. By God, 80 people. I said goodbye to them myself, one by one,” he said.

After those two visits, “I never heard of Dujail ever again. I never got a report on it. It was all handed over to the general prosecutor. Why do these witnesses complain against me and accuse me?” he told the judge.

In previous sessions, some prosecution witnesses – Dujail residents arrested in the crackdown – have testified that Ibrahim was personally involved in torturing them after they were taken from Dujail to the Baghdad headquarters of the Mukharabat, the feared intelligence agency that Ibrahim headed under Saddam.

One witness testified last month that her interrogators stripped her naked, hung her by her arms and gave her electric shocks. Ibrahim entered the room, ordered her hung by her feet then kicked her three times in the chest, she said.

After hearing testimony from dozens of victims of the crackdown since the trial began on October 19, the prosecution yesterday began calling former members of Saddam’s regime to the witness stand in an attempt to show Saddam’s direct role.

Today’s second witness was Fadel al-Salfij, who served as governor of Salaheddin province – where Dujail is located – from 1992-1993.

While cross-examining al-Salfij, Ibrahim told the judge he was on hunger strike and complained that he and the other defendants had been forced to attend the proceedings against their will.

“You brought me by force in my pyjamas and I have been on a hunger strike for two days,” he said.

At the start of today’s session, Saddam told the judge, “For three days we have been holding a hunger strike protesting against your way in treating us - against you and your masters.”

The defendants refused to attend sessions last month after their defence team walked out of court. The defence lawyers have refused to participate in the trial until Abdel-Rahman is removed, accusing him of bias against Saddam.

Abdel-Rahman appointed new defence lawyers, but Saddam and other defendants refused to accept them. But yesterday, Abdel-Rahman ordered the defendants to attend the session. Saddam entered on his own, but Ibrahim had to be pulled into the court – shouting and struggling and wearing only his long underwear – by guards who held him by the arms.

He wore the same thing today and as he entered the court shouted “Long live the Baath.”

When Abdel-Rahman told him to “shut up,” Ibrahim replied, “Don’t tell me to shut up. i am a person like you – even better than you.”