Saddam's day in court arrives
19oct05
AFTER years of dealing out brutal justice, Saddam Hussein faces court on murder charges today, caged in glass.
Saddam will be tried over a village massacre by a panel of his countrymen, and faces death if convicted.
He and seven other defendants will be placed in a bullet-proof cage in the middle of the courtroom.
To their right will be the defence counsel's table and to the left, the prosecution table.
In front of the cage will be the bench, a panel of five judges.
It will be an internationally televised spectacle before a public thrilled to see the fallen dictator called to account for his alleged crimes. It will also be a cathartic moment for viewers in the US, which has two wars against Saddam, losing almost 2000 soldiers in the latest conflict and almost 300 in the first.
For Iraqis, the trial will help put to rest lingering fears that the dictator might rule again.
US and Iraqi officials hope the trial will weaken the insurgency, made up in part of former members of Saddam's Baath party. But it is just as likely to deepen the divide between rival Shiites and Sunnis.
Among the atrocities that prosecutors want Saddam, 68, to answer for are:
GASSING of 5000 people in the Kurdish village of Halabja in 1988.
THE 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, in which one million people were killed.
THE 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
THE violent suppression of a Shiite uprising the next year.
But today these charges are expected to be put aside for an otherwise obscure case -- the 1982 killing of 143 residents of the Shiite village of Dujail, allegedly as revenge for an attempt on his life.
It is believed prosecutors calculate they have the best change of a speedy victory in this case. If convicted Saddam could be executed, even before he faces the other charges.
The chief prosecutor, who for security reasons didn't want his name released until the trial started, said the Dujail case hinged largely on documents Saddam wrote and signed that ordered the killings.
He said he would also rely on about 30 witnesses, most of whom will be shielded in the courtroom.
The trial will begin with the court identifying the defendants and reading the charges, then the prosecution will give the opening statement.
Western officials and the prosecutor have suggested that the start of the trial could be anticlimactic, saying it probably will recess quickly.
Saddam and his co-defendants will give their names, the judge will read the charges, and all indications are the trial will be postponed for weeks, possibly pushing the real courtroom fireworks into next year.
His lawyer, Khalil Dulaimi, has said he received documents against his client only last month, not in enough time to prepare.
19oct05
AFTER years of dealing out brutal justice, Saddam Hussein faces court on murder charges today, caged in glass.
Saddam will be tried over a village massacre by a panel of his countrymen, and faces death if convicted.
He and seven other defendants will be placed in a bullet-proof cage in the middle of the courtroom.
To their right will be the defence counsel's table and to the left, the prosecution table.
In front of the cage will be the bench, a panel of five judges.
It will be an internationally televised spectacle before a public thrilled to see the fallen dictator called to account for his alleged crimes. It will also be a cathartic moment for viewers in the US, which has two wars against Saddam, losing almost 2000 soldiers in the latest conflict and almost 300 in the first.
For Iraqis, the trial will help put to rest lingering fears that the dictator might rule again.
US and Iraqi officials hope the trial will weaken the insurgency, made up in part of former members of Saddam's Baath party. But it is just as likely to deepen the divide between rival Shiites and Sunnis.
Among the atrocities that prosecutors want Saddam, 68, to answer for are:
GASSING of 5000 people in the Kurdish village of Halabja in 1988.
THE 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, in which one million people were killed.
THE 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
THE violent suppression of a Shiite uprising the next year.
But today these charges are expected to be put aside for an otherwise obscure case -- the 1982 killing of 143 residents of the Shiite village of Dujail, allegedly as revenge for an attempt on his life.
It is believed prosecutors calculate they have the best change of a speedy victory in this case. If convicted Saddam could be executed, even before he faces the other charges.
The chief prosecutor, who for security reasons didn't want his name released until the trial started, said the Dujail case hinged largely on documents Saddam wrote and signed that ordered the killings.
He said he would also rely on about 30 witnesses, most of whom will be shielded in the courtroom.
The trial will begin with the court identifying the defendants and reading the charges, then the prosecution will give the opening statement.
Western officials and the prosecutor have suggested that the start of the trial could be anticlimactic, saying it probably will recess quickly.
Saddam and his co-defendants will give their names, the judge will read the charges, and all indications are the trial will be postponed for weeks, possibly pushing the real courtroom fireworks into next year.
His lawyer, Khalil Dulaimi, has said he received documents against his client only last month, not in enough time to prepare.
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