Saddam trial adjourned until May 29

The trial of former Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein and his seven co-defendants over charges against humanity was adjourned on Wednesday until May 29. Chief Judge Rauof Abdul Rahman ordered the adjournment after hearing six defense witnesses including former deputy prime minister and foreign minister Tareq Aziz who gave testimonies in defense of Saddam.

At the beginning of Wednesday’s session, the 28th since the trial started last October, Rahman quarreled with the defense team and the defendants, demanding them to adhere to the court’s regulations without attacking the “court and the Iraqi people.”

“We allowed you (the defense team and defendants) to express your views in a democratic way as we have said from the beginning that this court is a transparent one,” Rahman said. “No one is allowed, whoever he is and in any name, to attack the court, its employees and the Iraqi people,” he stressed. Rahman then heard the testimonies of Aziz, the first defense witness in Wednesday’s session.

Aziz said that Iraqi officials including Saddam had the right to crack down on those involved in a failed assassination attempt on Saddam’s life near the northern Iraqi town of Dujail in 1982. Saddam and his seven aides are facing charges against humanity including the killing of 148 Shiite men from Dujail in the wake of the assassination bid.

Rahman prohibited the defense team from discussing Aziz’s testimonies, saying, “Your defense plan during the past sessions have been based on disgracing the court, and I won’t let this happen again.”

But after a recess, Rahman changed his mind and permitted the defense team to discuss the testimonies of Aziz, the most high-profile witness to appear in court so far.

The court then heard the testimonies of five other defense witnesses, including three of Saddam’s close relatives. The second witness talked behind a curtain and was not named publicly.

The third, Abid Hamid Mahmud al-Tikriti, presidential secretary and Saddam’s cousin, told the court how the conspirators of the Dujail assassination attempt sacrificed a sheep in Saddam’s honor in accordance with local traditional custom in a bid to mark his car for the assassins with bloody hand prints.

He added that after the ceremony, as soon as Saddam’s convoy reached the farm fields outside Dujail, it was attacked and that the car stained with blood was targeted and five cars were damaged in the attack.

Afterwards, Iraqi security forces found a warehouse full of heavy weapons and a radio set capable of contacting people outside Iraq, obviously Iran, which was believed to be involved in the attack, according to Mahmud.

The fourth defense witness to take the stand was Saif al-Din al-Mashhadani, regional commander of Saddam’s Baath Party, who was captured by the American troops after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

The fifth defense witness was Jamal Mustafa Abdallah Sultan al-Tikriti, deputy head of tribal affairs, Saddam’s son-in-law. The sixth witness was Luay Khair-Allah Telfah, a Saddam relative.

If convicted, Saddam and his aides might face death penalty.

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