Saddam defence team claims witness was killed

Saddam Hussein and his defence team today complained about unfairness in his trial on crimes against humanity, demanding equal time to present their case and saying one of their witnesses had been killed and others wouldn’t testify because they were wanted by authorities.

The defence did not identify the witness or give any other details.

But it said his death illustrated the difficulty of defending Saddam and seven former members of his regime against charges including killing and torture in a crackdown on Shiites prompted by an assassination attempt against Saddam in the town of Dujail in 1982.

“The defence is not free to present its witnesses the way the prosecution is,” one of the defence lawyers told chief judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman.

The lawyer, among those on the team whose names have not been made public for security reasons, said the defence was further limited because some potential witnesses were wanted by the US military or Iraqi government and won’t appear. He did not elaborate.

The defence also threw a surprise into the trial, when an anonymous witness claimed that nearly two dozen Shiites whom Saddam is accused of killing are still alive – throwing doubt on a key charge.

Abdel-Rahman ordered an investigation into the man’s claim.

The defence complaints came after Abdel-Rahman chided Saddam’s team for trying to expand its witness list. The judge has shown increasing impatience with a string of witnesses with no direct connection to the Dujail case.

“The key is not the number of witnesses, but the quality of their testimony,” he said. “That’s in your interest. If you come with 100 witnesses but they aren’t effective for your defence … the court won’t take it,” he said.

Abdel-Rahman also refused a defence request to show DVDs as evidence today, telling the lawyers to make a written request.

Saddam interjected that Abdel-Rahman should give the defence as much time as the prosecution.

“I would insist not to come here if I did not respect the judicial system,” Saddam told the judge.

“My respect for the judicial system is the reason behind accepting my colleagues to defend me and to present my case before Iraqis and public opinion.

“The prosecution presented all his witnesses one by one. We have nothing here, just talk, but when even talk is forbidden then we enter an imbalance,” he said.

“To attain balance we have to be given the same opportunity to the defence witnesses.”

US and Iraqi leaders hope a fair trial with an effective defence could help Iraq’s deeply divided Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds put the atrocities of Saddam’s regime behind them.

Two defence lawyers were killed early in the trial, and on Monday a defence attorney accused a spectator of belonging to a Shiite militia that has threatened lawyers. The judge ejected the spectator from the court.

The defence has been presenting its case for the past month in the seven-month-old trial.

One of the defence witnesses testified Tuesday that nearly two dozen of the 148 Shiites who were sentenced to death were still alive. The prosecution has said all 148 were killed, either executed by hanging or tortured to death even before their sentencing.

“Around 23 of those who were mentioned among the 148 are still alive, and I know most of them,” the witness, who claimed to live in Dujail, said from behind a curtain to protect his anonymity.

“I’ve eaten with them, I’ve met them. … I can take the chief prosecutor to Dujail and have lunch with them.”

He gave Abdel-Rahman the names of six of those he claimed were still alive, but refused to give more, saying he feared reprisals from their tribes.

“If the witness’ testimony is correct … the case should be reviewed,” one of the defence lawyers said, arguing that the testimony cast a key part of the prosecution’s case into doubt.

The witness said three prosecution witnesses who testified earlier in the trial had boasted in the past of participating in the assassination attempt on Saddam. He said he saw them do so at a July 8, 2004 ceremony in Dujail commemorating the shooting attack on Saddam and that the chief prosecutor in the Saddam trial, Jaafar al-Moussawi, attended the ceremony.

Al-Moussawi tried to discredit the witness, saying records showed that he was not a Dujail resident and that some of the names he gave were not on the list of those sentenced to death.

Saddam stood and insisted the man’s claims should be checked. “Your honour, you’ve come upon a serious issue that needs a comprehensive study.”

The judge promised to investigate and ordered the witness to remain in protective custody to help in the inquiry.

The defence said that one of the DVDs it wants to play for the court is a video showing al-Moussawi at the 2004 Dujail ceremony, alleging it showed he knew the three witnesses were involved in the attack on Saddam.

One of the top co-defendants in the trial, former intelligence chief Barzan Ibrahim, stood and flashed a victory sign, shouting, “The truth has arisen. Down with lies. Long live Iraq.”

The outburst prompted Abdel-Rahman to threaten to close the next session of the trial to the public.

But American officials observing the court later said the session would be opened.

The trial was adjourned until tomorrow.