Saddam yells at judge in unruly session
(AP)
Updated: 2005-12-05 20:47

After the walk-out and a 90-minute recess to resolve the issue, the court reconvened and Amin allowed Clark and ex-Qatari Justice Minister Najib al-Nueimi to speak on the questions of the legitimacy of the tribunal and safety of the lawyers.

"Reconciliation is essential," Clark told the court. "This trial can divide or heal. Unless it is seen as absolutely fair, and fair in fact, it will divide rather than reconcile Iraq."

At that point the judge reminded Clark that he was to speak only about the security guarantees for the defense lawyers — two of whom have been assassinated since the trial began Oct. 19.

Clark then said all parties were entitled to protection and the measures offered to protect the defense and their families were "absurd." Clark said that without such protection, the judicial system would collapse.

Al-Nueimi then spoke about the legitimacy issue, arguing that court is not independent and was in fact set up under the U.S.-led occupation rather than by a legal Iraqi government. He said the language of the statute was unchanged from that promulgated by the former top U.S. administrator in Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, and was therefore "illegitimate."

After the lawyers spoke, the first witness to take the stand, Ahmed Hassan Mohammed, began his testimony. He said that after an assassination attempt on Saddam, security agencies took people of all ages from age 14 to over age 70.

"There were mass arrests. Women and men. Even if a child was 1-day-old they used to tell his parents, 'Bring him with you,"' Mohammed said. He said he was taken to a security center where "I saw bodies of people from Dujail."

"They were martyrs I knew," Mohammed said, giving the name of the nine whose bodies were there.

The first witness earlier exchanged insults with Saddam's half brother, telling him "you killed a 14-year-old boy."

"To hell," the half brother, Ibrahim, replied.

"You and your children go to hell," the witness replied.

The judge then asked them to avoid such exchanges.

"There was random arrests in the streets, all the forces of the (Baath) party, and Thursday became `Judgment Day' and Dujail has become a battle front," the witness said, sometime fighting back tears. "Shootings started and nobody could leave or enter Dujail. At night, intelligence agents arrived headed by Barazan" Ibrahim.

At this point Ibrahim interrupted him, saying that "I am a patriot and I was the head of the intelligence service of Iraq."