Saddam refuses plea, defence witnesses speak

Saddam Hussein

BAGHDAD - Saddam Hussein angrily refused to enter a plea today after hearing a full, formal list of charges of crimes against humanity read to him in court.

The judge dismissed his defence that he had immunity and was still president. He entered a formal "not guilty" plea on Saddam's behalf after giving a 15-minute recitation of killings, torture and executions that followed an attempt on the Iraqi leader's life in the Shi'ite town of Dujail in 1982.

Seven months into the trial and after a three-week recess following the completion of the prosecution case, chief judge Raouf Abdul Rahman read out to each of the eight defendants in turn the final charge sheet against them.

All pleaded not guilty or, like Saddam, were ruled to have so pleaded after contesting the US-backed court's legitimacy.

Asked how he pleaded Saddam, 69, who stood alone at first in the metal-railed dock, complained that he could not give a simple Yes or No answer to the lengthy accusation:

"This statement cannot influence me or shake a hair of my head," he said, standing erect in a dark suit, holding a Koran. "I am president of Iraq by the will of the Iraqi people."

"You were, but not now," replied the judge.

Aside from that brief outburst, Saddam seemed relaxed. He entered court smiling, first and alone. At the lunch break, he chatted amiably with the chief prosecutor.

All eight face hanging if convicted, but only after appeals, likely to be held up by a dozen or so other trials for Saddam.

The charge sheets against all eight consisted of largely similar accounts of the events of July 8, 1982, and subsequently, with modifications for the role of each man.

"I charge that you were the president of Iraq ... and that you gave orders to security services and the military ... to launch an organised attack with various types of weaponry, including helicopters and planes, to kill and then to torture hundreds of Dujailis, including children, and women and men and then to destroy houses and farms," the judge told Saddam.

Nine people died on that day, he said. Others, including children, died under interrogation in Baghdad or in harsh conditions in the desert where hundreds of local people from the oppressed Shi'ite Muslim majority were held for four years.

Of 399 people arrested, the names of some of the dead were listed -- among them were a number of children, including Zina Mohammed Hassan, a girl who died in the Hakmiya interrogation centre run by Saddam's half-brother Barzan al-Tikrit.

Saddam, the judge said, also signed orders approving the executions in 1984 of 148 men from Dujail after a rapid court process -- even though some of them had already died under torture and 32 were under 18 and so protected by Iraqi law.

The charge sheet said these acts were the responsibility of the accused and that a 2005 Iraqi law on crimes against humanity was valid retroactively, with no grounds for claiming immunity.

The charges against Barzan, Saddam's intelligence chief, and his former vice president Taha Yassin Ramadan were similar.

"What you read is all lies," Barzan said when pleading.

Those charges read out against Awad al-Bandar, the judge whose Revolutionary Court sentenced the 148 to death, noted that the execution of minors was against Iraqi law at the time.

Bandar, like five other defendants wearing traditional robes and headdress, later stood to challenge the accusation: "I am not afraid of death ... I fear only God.

"I committed no crime but rather was enforcing the law. It is not me I am defending. I am defending Iraq. You are putting our history on trial."

The defence case began in the afternoon when five witnesses for one of the four local officials on trial were called. Saddam and his three senior aides were absent. Their witnesses are due to give evidence later. The trial resumes on tomorrow.

The witnesses heard today largely attested to the good character of Baath party member Ali Daei, a student at the time.

He denies informing on neighbours who were arrested, and some killed. But, to the clear irritation of the judge, none could clearly account for the defendant's actions at the time.

- REUTERS