Plot to kill judge in Saddam's trial foiled

Saddam Hussein on trial. Picture / Reuters

BAGHDAD - An attempt to murder the chief investigative judge in Saddam Hussein's trial has been foiled with the arrests of eight men, police say.

The men held at the northern city of Kirkuk, on the eve of the reopening of the case, were allegedly carrying written orders from Saddam's former deputy, Izzat al-Douri, to assassinate Judge Raed Jouhi, who prepared the case against Saddam and his seven fellow defendants.

The suspects, all Sunnis, are said to have been armed with bomb-making equipment and maps indicating the home of Jouhi.

Police Captain Anwar Khader Mohammed said: "After interrogation they confessed to having plotted to kill Raed Jouhi."

The timing of the arrests brought immediate claims from some Sunni leaders that it was propaganda.

Meanwhile, Saddam's defence lawyers have lifted their threat to boycott the trial but were to seek a second postponement of proceedings when the court reconvenes today.

The trial reportedly got the last-minute addition of two observers, former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark and Najeeb al-Nauimi, former Justice Minister of Qatar.

Clark is a controversial figure who was the US Government's top legal official in the late 1960s before becoming an anti-Vietnam war activist and later a defender of figures including Slobodan Milosevic, on trial for war crimes at The Hague.

"Our plan is to go to court in Baghdad representing the defence counsel as defence support," he said. "A fair trial in this case is absolutely imperative for historical truth."

Also yesterday, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani hit back at former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi for saying human rights abuses in Iraq were as bad now as they were under Saddam.

"I cannot imagine that such nonsense has been said by Dr Allawi because he is very well aware that now in Iraq we are enjoying all kinds of democratic rights," Talabani told BBC World television.

- REUTERS, INDEPENDENT