WRAP Reaction to Saddam trial judge decision to resign, ADDS file

Описание: (15 Jan 2006)

Baghdad - 15 January 2006
1. Various of street scenes
2. Various of men looking at newspapers laid out on footpath
3. Various of newspapers and magazines
4. Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper on display
5. Newspaper headline reading: "Saddam trial's judge has submitted his resignation in protest against government pressure"

FILE
Baghdad - 7 Dec 2005
6. Close-up of Chief Judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin
7. Wide shot of court
8. Judge Amin speaking

Baghdad - 15 January 2006
9. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Rifaat al-Yass, Voxpop
"The judge's resignation has not affected the trial. If he resigned, another one would replace him. But his resignation was either because he came under pressure or he was not convinced in the trial. Finally this decision is up to him."
10. Mid of newspapers
11. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Um Ayad, Voxpop
"If he (the judge Rizgar) resigned, this was up to him. And perhaps if he resigned the trial would fail."
12. Vehicles driving on a road
13. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Um Kirar, Voxpop:
"This news (judge's resignation) has astonished and shocked me. I hope that Rizgar (Chief Judge in Saddam trial) will reverse his decision until the Dujail trial is over, then he can take his final decision."
14. Vehicles driving on a road

STORYLINE:

There was mixed reaction to the resignation of the chief judge in the Saddam Hussein trial in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Sunday.

A court official said Rizgar Mohammed Amin submitted his resignation on Saturday after criticism that he'd let the proceedings spin out of control.

But it wasn't clear if his resignation had been accepted amid behind-the-scenes efforts to persuade him to change his mind.

Amin is the head of a five-judge tribunal overseeing the case against Saddam and seven co-defendants for the deaths of more than 140 Shiite Muslims in the town of Dujail in 1982 in retaliation for an assassination attempt.

One man suggested that Amin had resigned because of pressure from the Iraqi government.

"His resignation was either (because) he came under pressure, or he was not convinced in the trial. Finally, this decision is up to him," Rifaat al-Yass said.

One woman urged Judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin to complete the Dujail case.

"This news has astonished and shocked me. I hope that Rizgar will reverse his decision until the Dujail trial is over," she said.

The chief prosecutor in Saddam's trial, Jaafar al-Mousawi, told The Associated Press that Amin's resignation, if accepted, wouldn't affect the proceedings because he could be quickly replaced.

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