Saddam judge accuses witnesses of perjury

The defence team in the trial of Saddam Hussein protested today over the arrest of four of its witnesses, saying some of them were beaten by Iraqi guards.

The chief judge said they were jailed on suspicion of perjury.

The witnesses, who were jailed last week after testifying, included one who claimed that some of the 148 Shiites that Saddam and his seven co-defendants are accused of killing were still alive.

“Two of them were arrested inside the court while two others were arrested inside the Green Zone,” defence lawyer Khamis al-Obeidi said. “They were beaten by Iraqi army.”

“They committed perjury. Should I reward them?” chief judge Raouf Abel-Rahman said.

It was not known who the other three detained witnesses were.

The arrests came after Wednesday’s session, when one witness alleged that the chief prosecutor in the trial, Jaafar al-Moussawi, had attempted to bribe him to testify against Saddam.

Al-Moussawi denied the charge, and Abdel-Rahman warned the witness he could face prosecution for perjury.

Abdel-Rahman showed increasing impatience today with a new defence strategy throwing doubt on the prosecution’s case against Saddam and seven former members of his regime.

He shouted repeatedly at defence lawyers trying to argue that prosecution documents should be reviewed to determine if they were authentic.

The eight are accused of crimes against humanity in a sweep against the town of Dujail, including torturing prisoners and killing 148 Shiites sentenced to death for a 1982 assassination attempt against Saddam.

But defence lawyer Wadud Fawzi read a list of 15 names from the 148 who he said were still alive, died natural deaths later or were killed in the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.

“There are basic mistakes in the prosecution’s case,” Fawzi told the court. “We contest the authenticity of documents presented in this court and demand the court be halted to investigate the case.”

Abdel-Rahman ordered the defence to provide documents proving the 15 were still alive or were not killed in the crackdown.

He refused to halt the trial however, and argued with Fawzi over the line of defence, saying: “All these demands are not helping your clients.”

The prosecution has said all 148 were either executed or were tortured to death before they were sentenced to death.

Saddam has acknowledged in court that he ordered the 148 sent to trial but today he disputed a written order for the trial and a memo approving the death sentences that the prosecution presented earlier.

His signatures on the documents were confirmed by Iraqi handwriting experts, but the defence has demanded an “unbiased” international team authenticate them as well.

“As I said before, each signature that an unbiased committee proves belongs to Saddam Hussein, then I’m responsible for that. But because these documents didn’t come before such a committee, then I contest them all,” said Hussein.

A defence witness last week claimed that 23 of those sentenced to death were still alive and that he had met them recently in Dujail. The witness was among those arrested the next day, according to chief defence lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi.

The defence has argued that if some of the Shiites were not killed, it throws doubt on the entire prosecution case.

Last week, it also presented a video it said showed that one of the prosecution’s witnesses, Ali al-Haidari, perjured himself when he claimed on the stand that there had been no assassination attempt against Saddam in Dujail in 1982.

Abdel-Rahman has not moved to investigate al-Haidari for perjury. But he said he had ordered the four defence witnesses “detained for … investigation.”

The court today heard two witnesses testifying on behalf of one of the lower-level defendants in the trial, Ali Dayih. But Abdel-Rahman chastised the defence for not having other witnesses ready. He adjourned the court until June 12.

Before the session, chief defence lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi said the US military notified the defence team over the weekend that it was withdrawing soldiers protecting them during their movements.

Al-Dulaimi said that when he arrived in Baghdad from Jordan yesterday, he had to drive without US guards that usually accompany him.

“It means that our lives are endangered and anytime we could be killed,” said Najib al-Nueimi, a Qatari lawyer on the defence team.

A US official observing the trial denied US protection had been withdrawn but said there may have been logistical issues in escorting the lawyers.

Two defence lawyers were killed early in the trial, and the team says they still get threats of reprisals for their defence of the former Iraqi leaders.

A witness who testified in May was killed after he took the stand and his brother was kidnapped, the defence said.

Hussein and his co-defendants face possible execution by hanging if convicted for crimes against humanity.