Former Saddam aide dragged from court

Saddam Hussein’s former intelligence chief was manhandled by guards as they dragged him out of court today for arguing with the judge, fuelling defence protests that it is being treated unfairly in the trial of the ousted Iraqi leader and members of his regime.

An American lawyer on the team, Curtis Doebbler, said the defence is at a “serious disadvantage,” accusing the court of ignoring its requests, intimidating witnesses and rushing it while giving the prosecution all the time it needed to present its case.

The trial was further thrown into confusion when a judge read out what were said to be confessions by four defence witnesses who were arrested after giving their testimony two weeks ago. In the confessions, they admitted to committing perjury.

The defence said the witnesses were made to sign confessions they hadn’t read. Two of the witnesses said they were beaten and forced to give the confessions.

The session turned tumultuous when chief judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman ordered the removal of Barzan Ibrahim, Saddam’s half-brother and former intelligence chief, after he accused the court of “terrorising” the defence.

Iraqi guards grabbed Ibrahim by the arms and pulled him out. He tried to shrug them off and they held his left arm and pushed him into a wall as they tried to hustle him out the door, causing an uproar among the defence lawyers.

“This is dictatorial,” Ibrahim shouted. “You know dictatorship,” Abdel-Rahman sneered in reply.

“They are beating him in front of your eyes. Right at the door,” defence lawyer Mohammed Munib shouted to the judge, who banged his gavel demanding quiet.

Afterward, Saddam stood and sarcastically suggested the defence and defendants leave.

“If this will bring you calm and quiet and give you the opportunity to reach your verdicts. … If my presence bothers you then I can withdraw and ask the defence team to withdraw as well,” he said.

Saddam and seven former members of his regime are on trial for charges of crimes against humanity in a crackdown against Shiites in the town of Dujail after a 1982 assassination attempt on Saddam. They are accused of torturing women and children and wrongfully killing 148 Shiites sentenced to death for the attack on the former Iraqi leader.

It was the second time in two weeks that Ibrahim has been thrown out for arguing with Abdel-Rahman.

The court has gotten more chaotic in recent sessions as the defence stepped up its arguments that the prosecution case is fundamentally flawed – and possibly forged – and its complaints that the defence team is being treated unfairly.

The four witnesses who were arrested after appearing in court last month gave what the defence touts as the most damaging testimony. Three of them said that some of the 148 Shiites killed in the crackdown were still alive and living in Dujail. The fourth accused chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Moussawi of trying to pay him to testify against Saddam.

Abdel-Rahman ordered an investigation into the claims that some of the 148 were still alive, but then ordered all four arrested for perjury. The four testified anonymously, from behind curtains, like many witnesses from both sides. There is no sign the investigation has taken place.

In court today, a judge on the five-member panel read what confessions by the four, admitting they made up their testimony. Two of them said they were intimidated into testifying by relatives of Saddam in Iraq and Syria. Two others said they were offered residence abroad and salaries by the defence to make up their testimonies, according to the confessions.

In court, defence lawyer Najib al-Nuaimi rejected the confessions. “We know that all these witnesses signed papers without knowing what they contained,” he said.

Chief defence lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi said the confessions were “fake, because they were taken by force.”

The four witnesses have since been released and travelled abroad. Two of them, contacted by AP with help from the defence team, said the confessions read in court were “lies.”

“They beat us. They threatened us and pressured us through terrifying means,” one of the men said.

The defence argues that if some of the 148 are still alive, it casts the entire prosecution case in doubt and has demanded all the prosecution’s documents be reviewed for authenticity.

In today’s session, Doebbler lashed out at the court, accusing it of mistreating the defence.

Doebbler – a visiting professor at Najah University in the West Bank – is one of two American lawyers on the defence team, along with former US attorney general Ramsey Clark.

“We are at a serious disadvantage to the prosecution because of the way we have been treated by the court,” he said. “We want to work for justice. But that must start by having a fair trial. But under the current circumstances, that doesn’t seem possible.”

Saddam and his co-defence face possible execution by hanging if convicted on the charges.

The perceived fairness of the trial is a crucial issue, since US and Iraqi officials have hoped that showing justice toward Saddam will help heal the deep Shiite-Sunni divisions that have exploded since his regime’s fall.