WRAP Saddam's trial resumes with defence team absent, more shots

Описание: (25 Sep 2006)
1. Wide of Saddam Hussein, former leader of Iraq and other defendants
2. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Mohammed Oreibi al-Khalifa, Chief Judge
"The court is in complete form, with the appearance of the prosecution and also the defendants and the lawyers who have been assigned by the court and also the witness Mahmoud Rasoul Mustafa, and we will start this open trial."
3. Medium of witness, Mahmoud Rasoul Mustafa
4. Medium of chief judge Mohammed Oreibi al-Khalifa speaking
5. Medium of Saddam making notes
STORYLINE:
Saddam Hussein's genocide trial resumed in Baghdad on Monday, but without lawyers representing the ex-president or any of the other six defendants.
Saddam was present in the courtroom but his nine-member defence team where not.
His lawyers announced on Sunday that they would boycott the proceedings "indefinitely", citing the replacement of the chief judge.
They also alleged other violations of legal procedure, such as the court's refusal to hear non-Iraqi lawyers and its demand that foreign attorneys seek permission to enter the courtroom.
Among Saddam's nine lawyers are a Jordanian, a Spaniard, a Frenchman and two Americans, including former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark.
But the new chief judge Mohammed Oreibi al-Khalifa on Monday said that despite the absence of Saddam's lawyers the court was "complete."
"With the appearance of the prosecution and also the defendants and the lawyers who have been assigned by the court and also the witness Mahmoud Rasoul Mustafa, and we will start this open trial" Al-Khalifa told the court.
Saddam and six others others have been on trial since August 21 for a crackdown, known as the Anfal, on Kurdish guerrillas and the Kurdish population at large in the late 1980s.
The prosecution says about 180 thousand people, mostly civilians, died in attacks that included the use of poison gas against Kurdish towns and villages in northern Iraq.
Saddam could face execution if convicted of genocide.

Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter:   / ap_archive  
Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​
Instagram:   / apnews  


You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...