Saddam refuses to enter plea in second trial

Saddam Hussein opened his second Baghdad trial with a show of defiance today, refusing to enter a plea on charges of genocide and war crimes connected to his scorched-earth offensive against Kurds nearly two decades ago.

The trial opens a new legal chapter for the ousted Iraqi leader, who once again faces a possible death penalty for the deaths of tens of thousands of Kurds during the Iraqi army’s “Operation Anfal” – Arabic for “spoils of war”.

The 1987-88 crackdown was aimed at crushing independence-minded Kurdish militias and clearing all Kurds from the northern region along the border with Iran. Saddam accused the Kurds of helping Iran in its war with Iraq.

Kurdish survivors say many villages were razed and countless young men disappeared.

They also accuse the army of using prohibited mustard gas and nerve agents, but the trial does not deal with the most notorious gassing – the March 1988 attack on Halabja that killed an estimated 5,000 Kurds. That incident will be part of a separate investigation by the Iraqi High Tribunal.

Saddam, wearing a black suit and white shirt, was the first defendant called into the court as the trial’s first session began this morning. When chief judge Abdullah al-Amiri asked Saddam to identify himself for the record, Saddam retorted: “You know me.”

Al-Amiri said it was the law that defendants had to identify themselves. “Do you respect this law?” he asked Saddam.

“This is the law of the occupation,” Saddam replied, then identified himself as “the president of the republic and commander in chief of the armed forces.”

The judge told Saddam, “This trial is on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Are you innocent or guilty.”

Saddam replied, “That would require volumes of books.” Al-Amiri ordered a plea of innocent entered into the record.

The proceedings are taking place in the same courtroom where Saddam spent months jousting with the judges in his turbulent first trial. That case was over the killings of more than 148 Shiite Muslims from the town of Dujail in a crackdown launched after a 1982 assassination attempt on Saddam.

Verdicts for Saddam and seven co-defendants are expected in that case on October 16.

The Dujail trial was plagued by frequent outbursts by Saddam and his co-defendants, who repeatedly challenged the legitimacy of the tribunal, saying it was created by the Americans, whose forces swept Saddam’s regime out of power in the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Saddam appeared ready to show the same defiance in his new trial – as did his top co-defendant, Ali Hassan al-Majid, who allegedly led Operation Anfal became known as “Chemical Ali” for the use of poison gas.

Al-Majid walked into the court, using a cane and wearing a red headscarf, and proudly identified himself as “Fighting comrade First Major Gen. Pilot Ali Hassan al-Majid”.

Al-Majid also refused to give a plea, so a plea of innocent was entered for him. The other defendants pleaded innocent.

The prosecution then began its opening statement, saying “the order (to launch the Anfal campaign) was issued by the defendant Saddam Hussein”.

“The goal was clear – to target the people of Kurdistan through killings, forced migration, persecution and denying them their personal freedoms,” the prosecutor said.

For Kurds, the launch of the trial was their chance to taste vengeance – just as the Dujail trial was for Shiites.

More than 1,000 survivors and relatives of victims of the Anfal campaign demonstrated in the northern Kurdish city of Sulaimaniyah today, demanding death for Saddam.

Khadhija Salih, a housewife who lost five brothers and sisters in the crackdown and herself spent a period in prison, said: “Today I will have my justice as I will see Saddam in the court.”

“If I could, I would have killed him myself with great pleasure,” she said.

The nine-month-long Dujail proceedings were frequently stormy, and halfway through the chief judge was replaced amid criticisms he was too lenient over Saddam’s outbursts. The new chief judge, Raouf Abdel-Rahman – a Kurd – took a tough line, repeatedly throwing defendants and defence lawyers out of the courtroom for disturbances and suppressing the defence’s arguments that the court was unfair. Three defence lawyers also were assassinated during the trial.

Human Rights Watch charged that the Iraqi High Tribunal was incapable of fairly and effectively trying Saddam and others on the Anfal charges “in accordance with international standards and current international criminal law”.

The New York-based group said the nine-month Dujail trial showed the court’s administration to be “chaotic and inadequate,” and also complained that the trial relied too heavily on anonymous witnesses. It said the court must “improve its practices if it is to do justice”.

In contrast, today’s session was largely calm and business-like, despite the quiet expressions of defiance by Saddam and al-Majid.

Chief judge al-Amiri, a 54-year-old Shiite who was a judge under Saddam’s regime for 25 years, hardly raised his voice, even when one of the defendants - Hussein Rashid Mohammed, the former army deputy director of operations – tried to launch into a speech when asked for a plea.

“I am a professional soldier,” Mohammed insisted, saying the Anfal campaign took place when Iraq was fighting Iran and its allies inside Iraq. “I want my children to hold my head high knowing their father committed no crimes against humanity.”

A US official close to the tribunal defended its fairness.

He said that while none of the judges in the Anfal case had practised international human rights law, the panel had “an adviser experienced in working with international tribunals”.

The official would not specify the adviser’s nationality but said the person was not an American.

In the trial, Saddam and al-Majid are charged with genocide, along with the separate charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity that the other five defendants face.

Also on trial are Sabir al-Douri, former director of military intelligence; Sultan Hashim Ahmad al-Tai, who was head of the Iraqi army’s 1st Corps, which carried out the Anfal military operation; and Taher Tawfiq al-Ani, then the Mosul governor.

The two other defendants are Hussein Rashid Mohammed, who was deputy director of operations for the Iraqi military, and Farhan Mutlaq Saleh, then head of military intelligence’s Eastern regional office.

Iraqi officials and rights groups say the precise death count resulting from Operation Anfal is difficult to determine because of the attacks’ scale. Estimates range from around 50,000 to well over 100,000.

About 60 to 120 complainants and prosecution witnesses are expected to appear before the court. The judges also will review more than 9,000 documents.