Saddam lawyer says trial mockery of justice

[FishForLunch]

How long before the leftist US lawyer and most Democracts start grumbling that Saddams Trial is a sham and it is Bush and Rummy that need to be on trial for commiting atrocities against the Iraqi people
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30 Jun 2004 15:33:12 GMT
By Suleiman al-Khalidi

AMMAN, June 30 (Reuters) - Saddam Hussein's defence lawyer said on Wednesday the former dictator would not get a fair trial and his captors had already decided his fate.

"This is a mockery of justice. We are facing clear legal violations..the allegations that this is going to be a fair trial is baseless," said Mohammad Rashdan, one of a 20-strong legal team appointed by Saddam's wife to represent him.

A U.S. official said on Wednesday the United States formally transferred Saddam and 11 of his top lieutenants before an Iraqi judge as Iraq took legal custody of them.

Saddam will remain in the physical custody of U.S. forces. He and his top aides are to be charged on Thursday.

"Any trial of the President is illegal and unjust and it follows from the aggression that took place against Iraq. The trial is a farce and the guilty verdict had been issued even before the trial has begun," he added.

Rashdan said he and his legal associates in the United States filed suits against the U.S. authorities for not allowing them access to Saddam.

The defence team was not given any of the tonnes of documentation prepared by a special tribunal that will try the former Iraqi leader, he added.

He said the team, which includes lawyers from the United States and France, had been threatened by Iraqi officials and feared for their lives if they came to Baghdad to defend Saddam without international protection.

"They should provide us with international protection... Do they want to slaughter all the lawyers? If the court is not capable of ensuring a proper defence, is this is the justice they are thinking of delivering?" Rashdan said.

"On what basis was the court set up and who appointed the judges and what laws it is subject to?," Rashdan asked, adding the tribunal's judges had been bribed to take on the task.

The now defunct U.S.-appointed Governing Council set up a war crimes tribunal and chose judges to try Saddam, who was captured in December. Some Arabs still see him as a nationalist hero who stood up to U.S. military might.

Saddam's aides and others among the 55 most wanted Iraqis on a U.S. list are seen as witnesses who could help prove a chain of command linking Saddam to crimes against humanity.

Saddam will be charged with ordering the 1988 massacres of Kurds, the 1990 invasion of Kuwait and the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, according to Chalabi.

"They are afraid of a bringing out the truth because a fair trial would be an indictment of (U.S. President George W.) Bush. He has to first prove whether his entry into Iraq was legal or not," Rashdan said.

[Mavdog]

Interesting, and a bit ironic as Saddam is an expert in the legal process being "a mockery of justice".

That being said, I'd have to agree with the defense attorney, a trial in Iraq has its verdict before the proceedings even begin. The evidence is just too obvious to everyone for there to be any other conclusion but guilty.

[Drbio]

Originally posted by: Mavdog
Interesting, and a bit ironic as Saddam is an expert in the legal process being "a mockery of justice".

That being said, I'd have to agree with the defense attorney, a trial in Iraq has its verdict before the proceedings even begin. The evidence is just too obvious to everyone for there to be any other conclusion but guilty.

What's your point. If the evidence is too obvious then he would be found guilty anywhere in the world. Don't tell me you are coming to the defense of poor little ole' saddamie now too?

[kg_veteran]

I think Saddam should bring in Johnny Cochran to be his lead defense counsel. Just imagine the soundbites:

"If the beret does not fit, you must acquit!"

"For peace in the Middle East, you must release!"



And then, of course, AFTER he's convicted, they should take the unprecedented step of allowing Saddam to choose the manner in which he will be executed. He gets to choose from the various methods he used to kill Iraqi citizens. Will it be:

a) taking an "acid bath";
b) being fed to Dobermans;
c) being raped with sharp objects until he bleeds to death;
d) putting on a Superman outfit and then being thrown from a fifth story building; or
e) being sawed in half.

Should be fascinating.

[dude1394]

I got his mockery hanging.

[MavKikiNYC]

Originally posted by: dude1394
I got his mockery hanging.

That reads kinda funny.

[mavsman55]

Let's just put it this way: If Saddam had any sliver of a chance of winning his court case, <u>that</u> would be a mockery of justice.