Saddam Hussein Sentenced to Death
Reuters
Baghdad, Nov 5: A U.S.-backed Iraqi court on Sunday sentenced toppled leader Saddam Hussein to death by hanging for crimes against humanity.
The ousted president, visibly shaken, shouted out "Allahu Akbar!" (God is Greatest) and "Long live the nation!".
The Iraqi High Tribunal also handed down death sentences to former revolutionary chief judge Awad Hamed al-Bander and Saddam's half brother and former intelligence chief Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti. Former Iraqi vice president Taha Yassin Ramadan was sentenced to life in prison.
The charges stemmed from the killing of 148 Shi'ite men in Dujail after an assassination attempt against Saddam in 1982.
A death sentence or life imprisonment generates an automatic appeal, delaying any execution by months at least. Saddam has said he wants to face a military firing squad, not the hangman.
Excerpts: Saddam's courtroom clashes
(BBC)
Saddam Hussein frequently clashed with presiding judges during the Dujail crimes of humanity trial.
Some of the sharpest exchanges occurred with Judge Raouf Abdul Rahman, who replaced Judge Rizgar Amin in January 2006. Excerpts follow.
SADDAM AND JUDGE AMIN: TRIAL OPENS 19 OCT 2005
[Judge] Mr Saddam, we want your identity. Full name, please...
Saddam went into the trial refusing to recognise the court
[Saddam] First of all, who are you? What are you? I want to know who you are. Are you judges?.. I have been here in this building... from eight in the morning.
[Judge] Please sit down, Mr Saddam. Later. We'll get down the identities of the others, and later we'll start with you.
[Saddam] And from nine AM I've been dressed.
[Judge] Well, now so you can sit down and relax, give your identity and make yourself comfortable.
[Saddam] You know me... I do not tire.
Judge: These are official matters, we have to hear from you your identity. These are formalities, so please.
[Saddam] I don't have anything against any of you. But adhering to the truth and respecting the will of the great Iraqi people in choosing me, I say: I do not respond to this so-called court, with all due respect to its people, and I retain my constitutional right as the president of Iraq.
[Judge] These matters can be put off until later. This is not the place.
Saddam: Neither do I recognise the body that has designated and authorised you, nor the aggression. All that is built on a false basis is false.
[Saddam finally sits down and the judge reads out his name, calling him the "former president of Iraq"]
[Saddam] I said I'm the president of Iraq... I did not say "deposed"...
SADDAM AND NEW PRESIDING JUDGE RAHMAN: 29 JAN 2006
[Saddam, after bring ordered to leave the court for speaking out of turn] I led you for 35 years and you order me out of the court?
[Judge] I am the judge, you are the defendant. You have to obey me.
SADDAM AND JUDGE RAHMAN: 13 FEB 2006
[Saddam, entering court] Down with Bush. Long live the nation... [addressing judge] Why have you brought us here by force? Your authority gives you the right to try a defendant in absentia. Are you trying to overcome your own smallness?
[Judge] The law will be implemented.
[Saddam, shouting] Degradation and shame upon you, Raouf.
SADDAM AND JUDGE RAHMAN: 14 FEB 2006
[Saddam, shouting as he enters court] Long live the mujahideen!.. I say to all Iraqis: Fight and liberate your country!... [later addressing the judge] Hit your own head with that gavel.
SADDAM AND JUDGE RAHMAN: 1 MARCH 2006
[Judge, shutting off Saddam's microphone as he makes political speech] Respect yourself!
[Saddam, shouting] You respect yourself!
[Judge] You are a defendant in a major criminal case, concerning the killing of innocents. You have to respond to this charge.
[Saddam] What about those who are dying in Baghdad? Are they not innocents? I am talking to the Iraqi people.
SADDAM AND JUDGE RAHMAN: 22 MAY 2006
[Saddam, objecting to the expulsion of one of his lawyers] I'm Saddam Hussein, president of Iraq. I am above you and above your father.
[Judge, angrily] You are a defendant now, not a president
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