Tuesday, November 07, 2006

 

Saddam back in court for second trial

Saddam Hussein
A subdued Saddam Hussein returned to court Tuesday for his genocide trial, two days after judges in another trial convicted him of crimes against humanity and sentenced him to hang. Saddam showed none of the bravado of two days ago, when he shouted "Long live the people and death to their enemies!" as another court sentenced him to the gallows. Instead, the ex-president sat in stony silence as Kurdish survivors told of being duped by promises of amnesty, only to watch their friends and family being shot by Iraqi government soldiers. Saddam complained respectfully to the judge that the witnesses were not giving incriminating testimony, and that they were not being adequately cross-examined.
The Anfal trial will continue while an appeal in the Dujail case is under way. The prosecution says about 180,000 Kurds, most of them civilians, were killed in the crackdown in 1987-88. On Monday, the chief prosecutor in the Dujail case said a nine-judge appeals panel was expected to rule on Saddam's guilty verdict and death sentence by the middle of January. That could set in motion a possible execution by mid-February.
Talabani said Monday that although he opposes capital punishment, his signature is not needed to carry out Saddam's death sentence. Talabani, a Kurd, has permanently authorized Abdul-Mahdi, a Shiite, to sign on his behalf. Abdul-Mahdi has said he would sign Saddam's death warrant, meaning two of three signatures were assured. Al-Hashimi, the other vice president and a Sunni, gave his word that he also would sign a Saddam death sentence as part of the deal under which he got the job April 22, according to witnesses at the meeting, which was attended by U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad.





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