Guest Boo_Bradley Report post Posted December 10, 2003 http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...q_war_crimes_22 Iraq Tribunal May Try Saddam in Absentia 1 hour, 31 minutes ago By HAMZA HENDAWI, Associated Press Writer BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq (news - web sites)'s interim government established a special tribunal Wednesday to try top members of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s government for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, and said Saddam could be tried in absentia. The tribunal will cover crimes committed from July 17, 1968 — the day Saddam's Baath Party came to power — until May 1, 2003 — the day President Bush (news - web sites) declared major hostilities over, said Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, the current president of the Iraqi Governing Council. Saddam became president in 1979 but wielded vast influence starting from the early 1970s. "This tribunal will show the world the horror of the crimes committed against this people," said Dara Noor al-Din, head of the Governing Council's legal committee. Al-Hakim added: "Today is an important historic event in the history of Iraq." The tribunal will try cases stemming from mass executions of Iraqi Kurds in the 1980s, as well as the suppression of uprisings by Kurds and Shiite Muslims soon after the 1991 Gulf War (news - web sites). Al-Hakim said it would also try cases committed against Iran — with which Iraq fought a bloody 1980-88 war — and against Kuwait, which Iraq invaded in 1990, sparking the Gulf War. The first suspects brought to trial could include top officials of Saddam's government who appeared on the U.S. 55 most-wanted list. Some of those are already in coalition custody, including former foreign minister Tariq Aziz, former vice president Taha Yassin Ramadan and Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as "Chemical Ali" for his role in chemical attacks on Kurds in the 1980s. The coalition authority now holds at least 5,500 people in detention centers, but it isn't known how many of those are war crimes suspects. Noor al-Din, a former appeals court judge, said the tribunal will try to convict defendants in absentia. Asked whether Saddam, who has so far eluded capture by coalition forces, would be tried in absentia, he said: "Yes." "Saddam Hussein will be accused and charged for committing major crimes against humanity and against the Iraqi people, and he will certainly fall under the jurisdiction of this court," said Ahmad Chalabi, a key member of the U.S.-picked, 25-seat Governing Council. Noor al-Din said a decision on using the death penalty, which was suspended by the U.S. occupation authority, would be made by a transitional government scheduled to assume sovereignty by July 1. He didn't say when the tribunal would begin its work but indicated trials might not start for months. Noor al-Din said the tribunal would have five judges — all Iraqis — "known for their expertise and professionalism." Some of the judges would be brought back from retirement, he said. The trials would be open to the public, human rights groups and news media, suggesting they could be televised. Defendants will have the right to a lawyer and the right to appeal, and the Iraqi penal code — except for some additions introduced by Saddam's regime — will be applicable. The legal framework also draws on international law, including Rwanda's genocide tribunal and the legal code used to create the United Nations (news - web sites)' International Criminal Court, a body the Bush administration opposes. Al-Hakim said it would also use the Geneva Conventions as a point of reference. Iraqi lawyers will argue the cases. International experts will serve only as advisers, a move many human rights groups have criticized, saying their expertise would make the tribunal more effective. The Iraqi-led tribunal contrasts with U.N.-sponsored tribunals set up to consider war crimes in the former Yugoslavia and in Rwanda. In those cases, international judges and lawyers have argued and decided cases. "We are concerned never to be accused of seeking revenge by setting up this court," al-Hakim said. "The law provides for guarantees for all defendants and for measures that safeguard rights as provided for in international treaties." Prosecutors will use a growing cache of documents seized from the former regime. Evidence also will come from the excavation of some of the 270 mass graves in Iraq that are believed to hold at least 300,000 sets of remains. The announcement came in a room refurbished to house the tribunal's cases, in the heavily guarded "Green Zone" where the U.S.-led occupation authority is based. It had a wooden bench for judges, and a wooden pen for suspects. The room had previously been used by Saddam to display gifts he received from foreign dignitaries. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest I'm That Damn Zzzzz Report post Posted December 10, 2003 (edited) How many of the 300,000 Iraqis in those mass graves were present at their trials, if they even got one? Edited December 12, 2003 by I'm That Damn Zzzzz Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest JMA Report post Posted December 10, 2003 Saddam deserves anything bad that happens to him. He made his bed, let him lie in it. You can only run from justice for so long before it catches up to you. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vanhalen 0 Report post Posted December 12, 2003 Yee-Hah for that good old American Justice, fuck me, I feel safer already Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest hunger4unger Report post Posted December 12, 2003 How can someone go on trial when they aren't present and has no opportunity to defend his self. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
justsoyouknow 0 Report post Posted December 12, 2003 How can someone go on trial when they aren't present and has no opportunity to defend his self. Defend himself? What has he got to defend himself from? He's guiltier than sin. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest hunger4unger Report post Posted December 13, 2003 How can someone go on trial when they aren't present and has no opportunity to defend his self. Defend himself? What has he got to defend himself from? He's guiltier than sin. That's besides the point. He's still entitled to defend his self. When is GW Bush going on trial for his war crimes? Same principal..... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dr. Tom 0 Report post Posted December 14, 2003 When is GW Bush going on trial for his war crimes? Perhaps after he actually commits some? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
teke184 0 Report post Posted December 14, 2003 When is GW Bush going on trial for his war crimes? Perhaps after he actually commits some? I fucking hate these little EU teenage protesters who think that anything Bush does is a war crime. You'd think that a continent who's had some VERY notorious war criminals in its past would recognize the difference between someone like a Joseph Mengele and George W Bush. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
monkey 0 Report post Posted December 14, 2003 Well as he has been captured it is all moot now anyway. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
iliketurtles 0 Report post Posted December 14, 2003 Weird how I read this right before I went to bed, and then now look at the news this morning. Nuts. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
