Saddam spars with judge in court appearance

updated 1:42 p.m. ET Nov. 28, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The trial of Saddam Hussein resumed Monday with the former Iraqi president trying to take command of the courtroom and angrily complaining about being shackled and mistreated by “occupiers and invaders.”

A former U.S. attorney general sat with the defense team and said it would be “extremely difficult” to get a fair trial. Other defendants spoke out, too, complaining of their treatment in detention or dissatisfaction with their court-appointed counsel.

After a short session in which the first testimony was read into the record, Chief Judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin adjourned the trial until Dec. 5 to allow time to find replacements for two defense lawyers who were slain and another who fled Iraq after he was wounded.

Dressed in black trousers and a gray jacket with a white handkerchief in the breast pocket, Saddam was the last of eight defendants to enter the heavily guarded courtroom, walking with a swagger, appearing confident and acknowledging people with the traditional Arabic greeting, “Peace be upon the people of peace.” He also carried a copy of the Muslim holy book, the Quran.

Saddam and his co-defendants are charged in the killings of more than 140 Shiite Muslims after an assassination attempt against the former president in the Shiite town of Dujail in 1982. Convictions could bring a sentence of death by hanging.

Saddam snaps at judge
The former leader pleaded innocent to charges of murder, torture, forced expulsions and illegal detentions at the opening session last month.

Amin had ordered all handcuffs and shackles removed from Saddam and the seven co-defendants before they entered the courtroom. Mortar fire echoed through the capital just before the session began.

Once inside, Saddam had a brief but heated exchange with Amin, complaining of having to walk up four flights of stairs in shackles because the elevator was not working.

The judge said he would tell the police not to let that happen again.

Saddam snapped: “You are the chief judge. I don’t want you to tell them. I want you to order them. They are in our country. You have the sovereignty. You are Iraqi and they are foreigners and occupiers. They are invaders. You should order them.”

Saddam also complained he was escorted up the stairs by “foreign guards” and that some of his papers had been taken.

“How can a defendant defend himself if his pen was taken? Saddam Hussein’s pen and papers were taken. I don’t mean a white paper. There are papers downstairs that include my remarks in which I express my opinion,” he said.

Saddam’s half brother and fellow defendant, Barazan Ibrahim, also complained he had not received proper medical treatment since being diagnosed with cancer and that this amounted to “indirect murder.”

Saddam then complained that he had written three or four memos to the judge since the Oct. 19 session but received no response. The judge said he was unaware of them.

Tolerance frustrates Shiites
The court’s tolerance of such comments appeared aimed at dispelling concerns by foreign human rights groups that Saddam could not get a fair trial here. But the court’s patience has not been well-received by Shiite politicians, who want a quick conviction.

“Iraqis are beginning to feel frustrated,” said Ridha Jawad Taki of the largest Shiite party. “The court should be more active. Saddam was captured two years ago and we feel that the sentence he will get will be reduced ... The weakness of this court might affect the verdicts and this is worrying us.”

Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark and former Qatari Justice Minister Najib al-Nueimi sat with the defense team inside the heavily guarded room. Saddam’s chief lawyer, Khalil Dulaimi, also was there.

A moment of silence was observed in memory of two defense lawyers slain since the trial began. Other defense attorneys were on hand, despite their threatened boycott to protest the government’s alleged failure to protect them.

Fair trial in question
Clark and al-Nueimi flew to Baghdad on Sunday from Amman, Jordan, to lend weight to the defense team. Both have been advising Saddam’s lawyers and support their call to have the trial moved out of Iraq.

Clark and others argue that a fair trial is impossible in Iraq because of the insurgency and because the country is effectively under foreign military occupation. U.S. and Iraqi officials insist the trial will conform to international standards.

Clark told CNN it was “extremely difficult” to assure fairness in the trial “because the passions in the country are at a fever pitch.”

“How can you ask a witness to come in when there’s a death threat?” he asked. “Unless there’s protection for the defense, I don’t know how the trial can go forward.”

Clark wasn’t optimistic about fairness for the defense. “The way they run the court is the lawyers on the defense side have very little participation,” he told CNN. “Nothing presented by the defense lawyers was really acted upon.”

Clark, who was attorney general under President Lyndon Johnson, is a staunch anti-war advocate who met with Saddam days before the 2003 invasion. He has also consulted several times with one-time Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, who is on trial in The Hague, Netherlands, on war crimes charges.

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