Saddam Hussein has been convicted of crimes against humanity, and sentenced to death by hanging.
He was found guilty over his role in the killing of 148 people in the mainly Shia town of Dujail in 1982.
His brother Barzan al-Tikriti was also sentenced to death, along with Iraq's former chief judge Awad Hamed al-Bander
Former vice-president Taha Yassin Ramadan got life in jail and three others received 15 year prison terms.
Another co-defendant, Baath party official Mohammed Azawi Ali, was acquitted.
Saddam shouted out "Allahu Akbar!" (God is Greatest) and "Long live Iraq. Long live the Iraqi people!" after the judge announced the verdict.
He has the option to appeal the sentence.
In the meantime the long suffering people of Iraq wait to see if this verdict leads to a rise in violence, as predicted by some.
In the USA President Bush faces midterms on the 7th of November, it is predicted that the Republican party will be heavily defeated as voters vent their spleens on Bush for the failure of the Iraq mission. The voters will also bring Bush to account for the theft of $800M, designated to help rebuild Iraq, by key Iraqi officials from under the noses of the US administration.
Mission accomplished!
1 comment:
The verdict of guilty, like the trial, itself is farce and an abuse of justice. It sends a clear message to the Iraqi people: if they want to defend themselves they cannot look to law, they cannot look to the US government, they cannot look to the occupation government the US setup in Iraq…they must defend themselves using all necessary means by which national liberation movements are permitted to defend themselves.
The trial has been declared unfair by every independent expert who has reviewed it. It constitutes the worse form of “victors’ injustice.”
While the verdict was written by the occupying powers thousands of Iraqis have died because these same people can’t provide basic security in the country they illegally invaded.
The arrogant abuse of the law is part and parcel of the illegal invasion of Iraq and the US supported oppression of the Palestinian people for decades, and the US supported invasion of Lebanon. All of these were attacks on Arabs, on Muslims, on the people the US administration believes are their enemies. All of these are unmitigated violations of international law killing thousands of unarmed innocent Arab Muslims.
The trial of Saddam Hussein violated human rights to so serious an extent that no trial in modern history tat has been so prominent compares to it.
First, the trial was the direct result of multiple violations of international law, especially the illegal crime of aggression perpetrated against the Iraqi people.
Second, the trial was undertaken by a court set up and controlled by the United States, an occupying power. This violates the express provisions of international humanitarian law in the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Third, the trial was plagued by insecurity that saw defense lawyers, judges, and witnesses killed or intimidated. When the defense lawyers complained they were told there was nothing more that could be done. They were told not to complain about the murder of four defense lawyers by person allegedly connected to the Iraqi government.
The defense was given no time and no facilities to prepare a defense, even the President’ money was stolen from him when he was captured by the Americans. All exculpating evidence was withheld from the defense; defense witnesses were threatened by court officials; defense lawyers were assaulted by US officials; and the defendants we not given the charges against them until eight months after the prosecution had started presenting evidence and the day the defense was required to start its case. The list of violations is long and undoubtedly the reason why every independent expert has found the trial unfair.
Most notably, on 1 September 2006, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, the body tasked by the international community to determine when and if a fair trial has been held or a detention is arbitrary, decided that the trial was unfair and that a fair trial could not take place before the Iraqi Special Tribunal.
In short this trial is one of the worst abuses of justice in history. It is victors’ injustice and it is an injustice to everyone involved from the participants to the victims. It is dark day for the international community, a day in which the rule of law has been eclipsed by victors’ injustice.
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