Saddam refuses to enter plea for various charges
BAGHDAD, Iraq — The chief judge formally charged Saddam Hussein today with crimes against humanity, including torture of women and children, murder and the illegal arrest of 399 people in a crackdown against Shiites in the 1980s. A defiant Saddam refused to enter a plea.
Saddam, who was alone in the defendants' pen as the charges were read, stood holding a copy of the Quran and insisted he was still Iraq's president, saying he did not recognize the court.
"Your honor, you gave a long report. That report can't be summed up by saying guilty or not," Saddam, wearing a black suit, said after chief judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman read the charges and asked for a plea.
"Your honor is now before Saddam Hussein, the president of Iraq," Saddam said. "I am the president of Iraq by the will of the Iraqis, and I remain president of Iraq up to this moment. I respect the will of the Iraqi people and I will defend it with honor in the face of the collaborators and in the face of America.
"I do not recognize the collaborators that they brought to appoint a court and put forward a law with retroactive effect against the head of state, who is protected by the constitution and the law," he said.
Abdel-Rahman entered a "not guilty" plea on Saddam's behalf.
With the reading of charges, the trial — which began Oct. 19 — entered a new phase, with the defense presenting its case. Saddam and seven former members of his regime are on trial over a crackdown against residents of the town of Dujail, and they face possible execution by hanging if found guilty.
Under the Iraqi trial system, the court first hears plaintiffs outline their complaint against the defendants and the prosecutions' evidence against them. Then the judges decide on specific charges, and the defense begins making its case.
Security forces arrested hundreds of Dujail residents, including entire families, in the wake of a 1982 assassination attempt against Saddam in the town. Witnesses, including women, have recounted being tortured while in prison and 148 Shiites were sentenced to death in connection to the shooting attack on Saddam. All 148 were killed, either executed or dying under interrogation.
