Saddam Hussein

Saddām Hussein ʻAbd al-Majīd al-Tikrīt, sometimes spelled Husayn or Hussain; (Arabic صدام حسين عبد المجيد التكريتي; born April 28, 1937 {{fn|1}}) was President of Iraq from 1979 until his removal and capture during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Trial

On June 30, 2004, Saddam Hussein (held in custody by U.S. forces at Camp Cropper in Baghdad), along with 11 senior Ba'athist officials, were handed over legally (though not physically, as there is at present no adequate Iraqi prison to hold them) to the interim Iraqi government to stand trial for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. Particular attention will be paid to his activities in violent campaigns against the Kurds in the north during the Iran-Iraq War, and against the Shiites in the south in 1991 and 1999 to put down revolts.

Related Topics:
June 30 - 2004 - Camp Cropper

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The first legal hearing in Saddam's case was held before the Iraqi Special Tribunal on July 1, 2004. Broadcast later on Arabic and Western television networks, it was his first appearance in footage aired around the world since his capture by U.S. forces the previous December.

Related Topics:
Iraqi Special Tribunal - July 1 - 2004

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The 67-year-old deposed Iraqi leader appeared confident and defiant throughout the 26-minute hearing. Alternating between listening to and gesturing at the judge, Saddam questioned the legitimacy of the tribunal set up to try him. He called the court as a "play aimed at Bush's chances of winning the U.S. presidential elections." He emphatically rejected charges against him. "This is all theatre. The real criminal is Bush," he stated. When asked by the judge to identify himself in his first appearance before an Iraqi judge, he answered, "I am Saddam Hussein al-Majid, the President of the Republic of Iraq." "I am still the president of the republic and the occupation cannot take that away," Saddam declared.

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Also during the arraignment, Saddam defended Iraq's August 1990 invasion of Kuwait and referred to Kuwait's rulers as "dogs," which led to an admonishment from the judge for using coarse language in court (dogs are widely considered to be unclean animals in the Arab world). Later on July 1, Kuwait's information minister Abul-Hassan said crude language was "expected" of Saddam. "This is how he was raised," said the minister. http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=118085 Unlike the conservative monarchs in the area, which rule every other Arab nation in the Persian Gulf region, Saddam Hussein was born into a hard-scrabble, landless peasant family.

Related Topics:
Dog - Unclean animal

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Although no attorneys for Saddam were present at the July 1 hearing, his first wife, Sajida Talfah, has hired a multinational legal team of over 20 attorneys, headed by Jordanian Mohammad Rashdan and including Ayesha Qaddafi (Libya), Curtis Doebbler (United States), Emmanuel Ludot (France), Marc Henzelin (Switzerland) and Giovanni di Stefano (United Kingdom). Toward the end of the hearing, the deposed president refused to sign the legal document confirming his understanding of the charges. It has been reported, that during a meeting with Donald Rumsfeld in 2005, Saddam refused an offer of release if he made a televised request to armed groups for a ceasefire with allied forces. http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&month=May2005&file=World_News200505026563.xml

Related Topics:
Sajida Talfah - Jordan - Mohammad Rashdan - Ayesha Qaddafi - Libya - Curtis Doebbler - United States - Emmanuel Ludot - France - Marc Henzelin - Switzerland - Giovanni di Stefano - United Kingdom - Donald Rumsfeld

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On June 17, 2005 The former Malaysian prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad announced the formation, under his joint chairmanship, of an international Emergency Committee for Iraq, with a main objective of ensuring fair trials for Saddam Hussein and the other former Ba'ath Party officials being tried with him. http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Politics&loid=8.0.178168945&par=0

Related Topics:
June 17 - 2005 - Mahathir Mohamad - Emergency Committee for Iraq

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On July 18, 2005, Saddam was charged by the Special Tribunal with the first of an expected series of charges, relating to the mass killings of the inhabitants of the village of Dujail in 1982 after a failed assassination attempt against him.

Related Topics:
July 18 - 2005 - Dujail

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On August 8, 2005, the family announced that the legal team had been dissolved and that the only Iraq-based member, Khalil al-Duleimi, had been made sole legal counsel. http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/08/08/saddams_jordan_based_legal_team_dissolved/

Related Topics:
August 8 - 2005 - Khalil al-Duleimi

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Iraqi authorities plan to put Saddam Hussein on trial on October 19th, four days after the October 15th referendum on the new constitution.

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In an interview broadcast on Iraqi television on September 6, 2005, Iraqi president Jalal Talabani said that he had directly extracted confessions from Saddam that he had ordered mass killings and other "crimes" during his regime and that he deserves to die.

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Two days later, Saddam's lawyer denied that he confessed. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4225182.stm.

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