Hussein Trial Farcical, Unjust, Kafkaesque, Unbelievable
Justin Morahan notes the following points in his article on the trial of Saddam Hussein:
• Four defence lawyers were assassinated during the trial (two by alleged US/Iraqi collaboration)
• Four of the 5 original judges have either resigned or been killed
• The US spent hundreds of millions of dollars in support of the prosecution
• No confidential visits were allowed by defence lawyers to their clients and none at all until after the start of the first trial
• The Defence team was allowed only minutes to begin presenting its defence after the charges were made known on May 15th 2006
• Defence had to end its case within weeks but the Prosecution were allowed months
• Evidence was withheld from defence counsel.
• Defence lawyers were denied access to investigative hearings, denied prior notice of witnesses and denied permission to visit the scene of the alleged crime.
• Trial sessions were announced oftentimes without advance notice or consultation with the result that even the most experienced lawyers missed the hearings.
• Four of the five judges who started in the case were removed by publicly acknowledged US interference
• During the trial, George Bush declared that Saddam Hussein "will be" executed
• Transcripts of the proceedings were refused to defence lawyers.
and more....
The sentence of death on Saddam Hussein in Iraq has been imposed by an illegal court, packed with biased prosecutors and judges who needed United States authorisation before they were ratified, according to a report by Ramsey Clark and Curtis F.J. Doebbler. The authors describe the trial as an attempt to impose victors' injustice on the Iraqi people. The war against Iraq was illegal and "To initiate a war of aggression ... is the supreme international crime" - (Nuremberg Tribunal)
"Rather than being brought to justice for their crimes, the Bush Administration and their allies have resorted to trying their victims. " Behind every door ... there are Americans pulling the strings.
The conduct of the trial, its setting up and aura were dark and surreal. For example:
• Four defence lawyers were assassinated during the trial (two by alleged US/Iraqi collaboration)
• Four of the 5 original judges have either resigned or been killed
• The US spent hundreds of millions of dollars in support of the prosecution
• No confidential visits were allowed by defence lawyers to their clients and none at all until after the start of the first trial
• The Defence team was allowed only minutes to begin presenting its defence after the charges were made known on May 15th 2006
• Defence had to end its case within weeks but the Prosecution were allowed months
• Evidence was withheld from defence counsel.
• Defence lawyers were denied access to investigative hearings, denied prior notice of witnesses and denied permission to visit the scene of the alleged crime.
• Trial sessions were announced oftentimes without advance notice or consultation with the result that even the most experienced lawyers missed the hearings.
• Four of the five judges who started in the case were removed by publicly acknowledged US interference
• During the trial, George Bush declared that Saddam Hussein "will be" executed
• Transcripts of the proceedings were refused to defence lawyers.