Death order shown in court
BAGHDAD, Iraq — Prosecutors at Saddam Hussein's trial presented a document today they said was signed by the former leader approving the executions of more than 140 Shiites in southern Iraq after an assassination attempt in the 1980s.
After about two hours of hearing documents, the court adjourned until Wednesday.
The document was among several presented by chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Moussawi concerning the killings of Shiites from the town of Dujail in 1982.
A memo from the Revolutionary Court, dated June 14, 1984, announced that 148 suspects had been sentenced to death by hanging and listed their names. The prosecutor said the signature on the memo was that of the court's head, Awad al-Bandar, one of Saddam's co-defendants.
A document dated two days later was a presidential order approving all 148 death sentences. The paper was signed by Saddam, al-Moussawi said, displaying the document with the signature on a screen in the courtroom.
The sentences were passed after an "imaginary trial," al-Moussawi told the court.
"None of the defendants were brought to court. Their statements were never recorded," he said.
The documents were presented after Saddam's lawyers ended their monthlong boycott of the tribunal.
The defense team's participation appeared to vindicate the tough approach chief judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman has taken since taking over the tribunal last month, pushing ahead with the proceedings even when the lawyers — and, at times, the defendants themselves — refused to attend.
Today's session was one of the most orderly since the trial began in October. Saddam and his seven co-defendants entered the court and took their seats silently — in sharp contrast with nearly every other session, which began with Saddam and his half brother Barzan Ibrahim shouting slogans or arguing with the judge.
The former Iraqi president also ended a hunger strike he and some co-defendants started Feb. 12, two days before the last trial session, defense lawyer Khamis al-Obeidi said Sunday.
Another document from the Revolutionary Court, dated March 23, 1985, confirmed that 96 executions took place.
Another 46 people were "liquidated during interrogations," a later Mukhabarat document stated. It also said four people were executed by mistake, even though their names were not on the list of those sentenced to death — a man named Mahdi Abdel-Amir, two of his sons and his brother.
Saddam and the seven co-defendants are on trial for carrying out torture and illegal arrests and executions in the crackdown in Dujail. They face death by hanging if convicted.
Abdel-Rahman opened today's session by announcing that the five-judge panel had rejected a defense request that he and the chief prosecutor be removed.
Saddam's chief lawyer, Khaled al-Dulaimi, said he would appeal and asked that today's session be halted immediately, a request Abdel-Rahman refused. Al-Dulaimi and al-Obeidi left the court to prepare an appeal, but the remaining six members of the defense team remained.
Ibrahim stood and argued briefly with Abdel-Rahman, who repeatedly ordered him to sit down.
The defense stormed out of court Jan. 29 after Abdel-Rahman tossed out one of the lawyers for shouting. The defense then said it would boycott the trial unless Abdel-Rahman were removed, accusing him of bias against Saddam. Court-appointed lawyers sat in during sessions over the past month.
Abdel-Rahman has adopted a no-nonsense style in the court since taking over the trial in early January, replacing a previous chief judge who was criticized as being too lenient toward Saddam and Ibrahim's frequent outbursts.
