Saddam's trial delayed again; withdraws from court
The Iraqi Kurdish judge Raouf Rashid Abdul Rahman, in charge of trying the toppled Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and seven of his aids before a special Iraqi court announced that delay of the trial until next Wednesday or Thursday as the resumption of the trial falls on an official day off.
The decision of the new chief of the court came after the court listened to the statements made by three witnesses including two women from behind the curtains. One of the two women reviewed the images of torture she said that she together with her family were exposed to in the detention centers of the former Iraqi intelligence in the background of the failed assassination attempt that claimed the life of Saddam Hussein in al-Dajil in 1982.
The decision came after a strong interchange in the morning session between the Judge and Barazan al-Takriti, brother for the Iraqi toppled president and the defendant team, that ended in the pullout of the defendant team and the judge expulsion of Barazan, while Saddam and his former deputy Taha Yassin Ramadan and former chairman of the revolution court Awad al-Bandar left the court in protest for the process of the trial.
The session started by a heated discussions between Barazan al-Takriti who tried to explain his health condition to the chairman of the court over the nature of discussions permitted in the court by the accused men during the trial sessions, while it seemed that judge Raouf tried to be tough from the beginning of the trial session.
The controversy ended in the judge removing Barazan al-Takrity because of what he described his insults to the court and this was followed by another expulsion decision of one of the defense lawyers. A matter which intensified the situation.
After the heated debated between Saddam's brother and the chairman of the Iraqi court for trying the former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, the toppled President had a similar controversy with the judge after which he left the court saying that no body can force him to attend the sessions of the court, rejecting the lawyers appointed by the court to replace the already withdrawn defense team.
Saddam criticized the court and said it was formed by an American decision. He also described the defense lawyers appointed by the court as "evils." After the judge gave his order to get Saddam out of the court. Saddam said the judge is using a shameful language. Saddam added "I ran your affairs for 35 years and you order them to get me out."
After Saddam had left the court, the judge also expelled from the session the accused Awad al-Bandar who asked the court to leave. Also left was the toppled Iraqi vice president Taha Yassin Ramadan.