Rambling monologues, verbal assaults and other outrageous antics have been the trademarks in the two ongoing trials of Saddam Hussein and his deposed henchmen.
But when a co-defendant wildly punched and flailed at a bailiff on the courtroom floor Tuesday, even the chief judge seemed deflated by how quickly the proceedings could devolve into a circuslike atmosphere.
The bizarre melee–featuring a slight and elderly Hussein Rashid Mohammed clawing, shoving and slapping at the beefy bailiffs that provide security for the tribunal–marked another low point in the former dictator’s protracted courtroom saga.
“I allowed you to say what you want, but you’ve made problems,” Judge Mohammed Oreibi al-Khalifa told the remaining defendants soon after ejecting defendants Hussein and Mohammed.
Since the Iraqi Special Tribunal began the enormous task last year of trying Hussein and members of the former regime, the proceedings have been more noteworthy for their chaotic atmosphere than studied truth-finding.
The trials have been punctuated by tantrums, harsh rebukes of the court’s legitimacy and several boycotts of the proceedings by the defendants and their lawyers.
The chaos on Tuesday overshadowed another day of gruesome testimony from five women who accused Hussein’s regime of murdering family members, raping young women and stealing their ancestors’ lands.
Hussein and his co-defendants were back in court Tuesday for their trial on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in what was known as the Anfal campaign, the 1987-88 crackdown against the country’s rebellious Kurdish region that left thousands dead. Hussein and his cousin Ali Hassan Majid, who purportedly directed chemical attacks against the Kurds, also face genocide charges.
The Anfal trial started Aug. 21, and the chief judge was replaced last month after making comments that were deemed prejudicial. The defendants’ attorneys have boycotted the trial since late September in response to that judge’s removal.
The first trial against Hussein and seven of his cohorts for the 1982 massacre at the Shiite village of Dujail began last October and is just now winding down. The court is scheduled to reconvene on Oct. 16 to set a date to announce a verdict.
Hussein faces the death penalty in both the Dujail and Anfal cases. It is unclear if his potential execution for the Dujail case would be carried out before the Anfal case is concluded.
Harrowing testimony
Right before the scrap started on Tuesday, a victim of the Anfal campaign took the stand to tell her harrowing story.
In vivid detail, the witness, whose identity was concealed, recounted how Hussein’s army imprisoned her for more than six months and resettled Arab Iraqis on her people’s land.
Following other defendants who questioned the witness through the judge, Hussein stood up in the dock, presumably to question her. Instead of pressing with a cross-examination, Hussein burst out a provocative Koran verse that started, “Fight them and God will torture them …”
The judge quickly cut off Hussein’s microphone and an argument ensued. Moments later Judge al-Khalifa ejected Hussein from the courtroom.
Hussein showed little resistance as he was escorted out of the dock by one of the courtroom bailiffs.
But as he was led out of the courtroom, his co-defendant Mohammed, a former Baath Party leader, shouted, “Long live Iraq,” and he and the others stood to protest Hussein’s ouster. At that point, two other guards tried to force Mohammed to sit down. They struggled for several seconds, and Mohammed, a wisp of a man, started flailing wildly.
With Mohammed still grappling, the judge ordered the curtains closed in front of the press gallery. But the press corps could still hear the sounds of shouting and scrapping. Soon, Mohammed was ejected, but not before he could be heard criticizing court officials as “dogs” and “traitors.”
Reporters attending the hearing were asked to leave the gallery, but the court failed to switch off the picture to the closed circuit broadcast on a television in the press room for a couple more moments.
Defendants admonished
During that time, the judge admonished the remaining five defendants for their provocative speech and lack of respect for the court. Majid, also known as Chemical Ali, responded that the court has failed to treat the men on trial with the respect shown to the complainants. During the closed session, all of the rest of the defendants were ejected for the remainder of Tuesday’s hearing.
Before he was ejected, Majid said he was ready to be done with the trial.
“I swear with an honest Iraqi heart, I hope to get executed,” he said. “It’s better than this mockery.”
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IRAQ DIGEST
FIRE AT AMMO DUMP: Explosions from detonating tank and artillery shells shook buildings miles away after a fire broke out at a U.S. ammunition depot in southern Baghdad on Tuesday night. It was not clear whether the depot at Forward Operating Base Falcon was hit by an attack or whether the fire began accidentally. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
CIVILIAN DEATHS: A team of U.S. and Iraqi public health researchers has estimated in a study released Tuesday that more than 600,000 civilians have died in violence across Iraq since the 2003 U.S. invasion, the highest estimate ever for the toll of the war. The figure breaks down to about 15,000 violent deaths a month. The number is an estimate and not a precise count.
MILITARY DEATHS: As of Tuesday, at least 2,750 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003. Three U.S. Marines and two soldiers were killed in fighting in Iraq on Sunday and Monday, the U.S. command announced Wednesday.
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amadhani@tribune.com
