Hussein Trial Judge Ends Witness Phase

BAGHDAD —  The judge trying Saddam Hussein for alleged atrocities during his rule cut off defense witnesses Tuesday and ordered final arguments in the case, despite assertions by the former Iraqi leader’s attorneys that they should be allowed to call more people to the stand.

“You’ve presented 62 witnesses. If that’s not enough to present your case, then 100 won’t work,” said Chief Judge Raouf Rasheed Abdel Rahman, waving off the defense’s arguments. “I’ve finished hearing witnesses.”

The end of defense testimony prepared the way for prosecutors to offer closing arguments Monday. Abdel Rahman scheduled closing statements for the defense on July 10.

Hussein and seven members of his former regime are being tried for their alleged roles in the massacre of 148 people and the detention of hundreds of others, including women and children. The crackdown followed a failed assassination attempt in 1982 on the then-president during a visit to the Shiite Muslim village of Dujayl.

Abdel Rahman began the proceedings Tuesday with a stern warning to the defendants’ legal team.

“I want to tell the defense attorneys something. We are not going to listen endlessly to the witnesses. This is the last session. I suggest you make use of it. You have to choose between two options: rhetoric or witnesses.”

Three former bodyguards for Hussein, all hidden behind a closed curtain, offered strikingly similar testimony Tuesday, saying they never heard about the massacre. All of them offered examples of the former ruler’s mercy and generosity.

The witnesses described how the townspeople of Dujayl cheered Hussein in 1982 as he gave a speech at a health clinic and how a woman with lamb’s blood on her hand made a red print on his departing armored car, indicating that she had sacrificed the animal in the president’s behalf.

The guards also described the assassination attempt on Hussein, which occurred as his convoy passed a school on one side of the road and an orchard on the other. The bodyguards immediately returned fire, they said, but Hussein stopped them. One witness said Hussein feared hitting innocent people or “even an animal.”

After the volley, Hussein returned to the clinic, climbed to the roof and spoke to the crowd again. Many people apologized vociferously for the attack, the witnesses said.

“Those people don’t represent you,” Hussein said of the would-be assassins, one witness testified. “You are a very kind, gentle people.”

Sabawi Ibrahim Hasan, a half brother of Hussein and a witness for former Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan, riled Judge Abdel Rahman by waving at the defendants as he walked in.

“Greetings to the heroes,” Hasan said.

Abdel Rahman warned him not to make speeches, but as Hasan’s testimony dragged on, the judge accused him of political grandstanding and calling the U.S. military presence into question and ordered the court into closed session.

Absent from Tuesday’s proceedings was co-defendant Barzan Ibrahim Hasan, Hussein’s former intelligence chief, whom Abdel Rahman ejected the day before for “multiple violations.” Barzan Hasan’s lawyer argued Tuesday that guards had manhandled his client Monday. But the judge said Barzan Hasan, who is another half brother of Hussein, had grabbed the guard first and then feigned injury.

Two former members of Barzan Hasan’s security detail testified Tuesday, both from behind a curtain. One said that Barzan Hasan had once released 50 political prisoners as a show of mercy. Both witnesses denied that they saw any atrocities taking place in Dujayl or heard of any orders to destroy the village’s orchards or detain or torture any of its townspeople.

Former Vice President Ramadan then delivered a long, rambling speech proclaiming his innocence and declaring that his life’s mission was to serve the Iraqi people.

“Your honor, I am innocent and I am not guilty of the things alleged against me,” Ramadan said. “If I was assigned to drain or demolish Dujayl, I would have done, and done it perfectly. But I didn’t.”

But Abdel Rahman cut Ramadan off when he mentioned the “illegal U.S. occupation.”

Chief prosecutor Jaafar Mousawi responded to Ramadan’s testimony by revealing several documents by and about Ramadan detailing the confiscation of lands from Dujayl property owners. Mousawi also presented a two-minute recording of a phone conversation between Hussein and Ramadan in which the former vice president describes the punishment that should be meted out to Dujayl’s residents.

“They must see from you, not only the punishment of the government.... I will kick them and chase them, and penalize each tribe,” Ramadan is heard saying.

Defendants and their lawyers complained that the court was stacked against them. Curtis Doebbler, one of two American lawyers for the defense, said Abdel Rahman showed bias toward the prosecution by criticizing a defense attorney this week.

“If this court criticizes any defense lawyer before the court, that reflects on the impartiality of the court,” Doebbler said. “We cannot have a fair trial when the court accuses lawyers.”

Looking impatient, Abdel Rahman urged Doebbler to keep his comments short and insisted on Arabic as the language of the court. After listening to Doebbler for a few minutes, Abdel Rahman turned to the interpreter.

“Tell him he came to talk, not to defend. He wants to come here and prove that he’s an international lawyer,” the judge said.

Hussein, quiet for most of Tuesday’s proceedings, smiled and laughed. “This is very good if your court graduates international lawyers,” he said.