Saddam co-defendant admits sentencing 148 to death

A former judge from Saddam Hussein’s regime today insisted that 148 Shiites he sentenced to death in Iraq were given a proper trial, trying to defend himself on charges of killing the men in a crackdown in the 1980s.

The question of the prosecution of the Shiites is a key point in the Baghdad trial of Saddam Hussein and seven former members of his regime.

The eight are charged with killing the Shiites, as well as illegal imprisonment and torture of hundreds of others – including women and children - in a crackdown launched against the town of Dujail following a 1982 assassination attempt against Saddam.

Saddam has admitted he ordered the trial of the 148 before his Revolutionary Court. But he said he had the right to do so because they were accused in the attempt to kill him.

But prosecutors have said the trial was “imaginary,” that the 148 did not even appear before the Revolutionary Court that sentenced them to death.

Testifying to the court, Saddam’s co-defendant Awad al-Bandar – who headed the Revolutionary Court at the time – insisted the 148 were tried “in accordance with the law”.

He said the 148 appeared before the court. Chief judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman asked him how all 148 fit in the courtroom, al-Bandar replied, “Those who did not fit in the cage used to be allowed to stand outside the cage.”

He said the trial last two weeks, from May 27 to June 14, 1984.

“How did you take the testimonies of 148 persons that quickly?” the judge asked him. Al-Bandar said the 148 had confessed.

“We were at war with Iran, and they confessed that they did their act at orders coming from Iran,” he said.