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Evidence is fake, says Saddam

Atul Aneja

Documents link ex-President to mass execution of Shias in the town of Dujail

DUBAI: The former Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein, has dismissed as fake, all documents linking him to mass executions of Shias in the town of Dujail.

As his trial over the Dujail incident resumed, Mr. Hussein said, "The witnesses who testified were brought here after being bribed and briefed of what to say." Mr. Hussein made the remark after he was cross-examined for the first time during the trial.

Veiled reference

He made two points during the proceedings. First, he made a veiled reference to the targeting of Sunnis by the Interior Ministry, where the influence of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) — a Shia grouping has been dominant. Amid acrimonious exchanges, which began soon after the session began, the judge asked Mr. Hussein not to make political statements. In response, he said: "You're scared of the Interior Minister, he doesn't scare my dog." The Ministry has been accused of serious human rights violations.

Mr. Hussein's defence team also focused on the rights violations by the Americans in the Abu Ghraib prison. At one point, a woman defence lawyer tried to show photographs of Iraqis being tortured, saying, "This is what the Americans did to Iraqis in Abu Ghraib." The judge ordered her out of court.

Second, Mr. Hussein questioned the legitimacy of the court by advocating that an international body should conduct the trial. He demanded that an international body should examine signatures on an order approving death sentences against those accused of attempting to assassinate him in Dujail in 1982. Some of his co-defendants have already said that their signatures on the documents were forged.

Mr. Hussein's trial resumed a day after the court declared that he would face fresh charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. These charges were about the military campaign against Kurds in northern Iraq in the late 1980s. As many as 180,000 persons have allegedly died in these attacks.

Jaafari defiant

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari has refused to step down despite enormous international pressure asking him to do so. Mr. Jaafari's refusal came within days of the visit to Iraq by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw. Analysts point out that the Anglo-American initiative was taken to influence the formation of a national unity government in which Mr. Jaafari does not find a place.

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