Saddam remains defiant in Iraq court

Oct 19, 2005

BAGHDAD, Wednesday — A defiant Saddam Hussein pleaded not guilty yesterday to charges of crimes against humanity, refusing to recognise the court on the first day of a trial that could see him sentenced to death.

BAGHDAD, Wednesday — A defiant Saddam Hussein pleaded not guilty yesterday to charges of crimes against humanity, refusing to recognise the court on the first day of a trial that could see him sentenced to death.

Facing the first of what could be several cases over atrocities committed during his quarter-century in power, Saddam refused to answer the court’s questions and instead launched into a sustained tirade over its legitimacy.

“I said what I said, I am not guilty, I am innocent,” Saddam told the court after the judge read out charges, including torture and murder, over a 1982 massacre of more than 140 Shiite villagers.

The bearded Saddam, unhandcuffed and cradling a Koran in his lap, described himself as the “president of Iraq”, but refused to give his name.

“I don’t acknowledge either the entity that authorises you nor the aggression because everything based on falsehood is falsehood,” Saddam said from the waist-high metal cage he was sitting in.

“Who are you and what are you?” the former president, dressed in a grey open-necked suit, demanded of the court.

The presiding judge, Kurdish magistrate Rizkar Mohammed Amin, looking increasingly exasperated, said: “For the record, the witness refuses to give his name.”

After several hours that were mainly devoted to procedural matters, Amin adjourned the trial until November 28. Saddam’s lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi — who has frequently complained of not having time to prepare a defence — had requested a three- month delay.

Security was tight at the grey marble courtroom in the heart of Baghdad’s highly-fortified Green Zone, where Saddam and seven of his former henchmen are being tried over the murder of Shiite villagers from Dujail, north of the capital.

“They are charged with murder, forced expulsion, imprisonment, failure to comply with international law and torture,” Amin told the eight, all of whom pleaded not guilty.

“These defendants have personal responsibility in the case,” he said.

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