The chief investigative judge in Saddam Hussein's trial, Raid Juhi, has said that there is documentary evidence of over 100,000 victims of the crackdown against Shiites following on from the 1991 Gulf War.
Juhi was visiting two grave sites last Saturday, where skeletons have been unearthed wearing clothes and blindfolds.
Juhi is quoted as saying:
"When the whole search is done, we could announce a number of mass graves and of victims.
Some people were loaded on buses and taken somewhere and those vehicles and buses came back with no people on them."
Although Saddam and seven of his henchmen are currently on trial for the killings of more than 140 Shiites following a 1982 assassination attempt against him, the Iraqi authorities say that there could be over a dozen more trials.
President Jalal Talabani has said that he doubted that any death sentence on Saddam would be carried out, until all the trials were complete.
Herein lies the problem with this approach. By selecting to try Saddam "piece meal", rather than in the form of a catch all Nuremburg style trial, the authorities are allowing him to play for time. It is more than possible that the trials will be ongoing for years, by which time will there be an Iraq left to carry out the final sentence?
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Adjourned Until Monday
The trial of Saddam Hussein heard from two witnesses yesterday.
The first witness, who was a government employee in Dujail in 1982, noted that two names in the list of the 148 people allegedly executed by Saddam's regime in the 1980s are not true, because one of them died in battle with Iran six months after the Dujail assassination.
The second witness was Ali Daiyh Ali's wife, Saddam's co-defendant and former Baath party official, who said that her husband was not a senior official of the Baath party or with the government and he had nothing to do with the detention of Dujail countrymen.
The trial was adjourned until next Monday.
The first witness, who was a government employee in Dujail in 1982, noted that two names in the list of the 148 people allegedly executed by Saddam's regime in the 1980s are not true, because one of them died in battle with Iran six months after the Dujail assassination.
The second witness was Ali Daiyh Ali's wife, Saddam's co-defendant and former Baath party official, who said that her husband was not a senior official of the Baath party or with the government and he had nothing to do with the detention of Dujail countrymen.
The trial was adjourned until next Monday.
Monday, June 05, 2006
Trial Resumes
The trial of Saddam Hussein reconvened today.
Chief Judge Raouf Abdul Rahman began the 32nd session by hearing two testimonies from defence witnesses for Saddam's co-defendant Ali Daiyh Ali, a former Saddam Baath party official.
Rahman said that the court would only hear the two witnesses, who would speak from behind a curtain, as the rest of the defence witnesses were absent.
The trial continues.
Chief Judge Raouf Abdul Rahman began the 32nd session by hearing two testimonies from defence witnesses for Saddam's co-defendant Ali Daiyh Ali, a former Saddam Baath party official.
Rahman said that the court would only hear the two witnesses, who would speak from behind a curtain, as the rest of the defence witnesses were absent.
The trial continues.
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