September 26, 2006

Saddam Ejected from Trial Again

The judge in Saddam's genocide trial tossed out the chief defendent for the third straight hearing:

New chief judge Mohammed al-Ureybi, who had thrown Saddam out of the two previous hearings he has chaired in the past week, opened Tuesday's hearing with a lecture to Saddam to behave.

He let him read a 20-minute statement, with microphones off so those in the glass-enclosed press gallery could not hear.

But after listening to two Kurdish witnesses, Saddam again began to argue and the judge lost his patience.

"You are a defendant and I'm a judge," Ureybi said. "Shut up, no-one talk ... The court has decided to eject Saddam Hussein from court."

As Saddam left, smiling, his six co-defendants -- top commanders under Saddam -- stood and tried to follow him out, demanding they leave too. The judge shouted back: "Get Saddam out and put the others back in their seats."

Several co-defendants started shouting and pointing fingers at the judge. Unusually, the sound was left on for television broadcasts, allowing all Iraqis to watch and listen during several minutes of courtroom pandemonium.

Ureybi ejected one, former defense minister Sultan Hashim, ordered a recess and switched off the sound. A source close to the court said he then ejected the others.

When the hearing resumed, it was the first time the genocide trial proceeded with none of the defendants in court.

The defense lawyers have been boycotting the trial since the new chief judge took over last week, so the defendants were represented only by court-appointed back-up lawyers.

"Saddam, Aides Ejected from Genocide Trial"