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Impartial judgement for Saddam?
Capturing Saddam Hussein is one thing, convicting him in an impartial court is something else.
| And justice is something else again... |
One Iraqi Governing Council member and judge, Dara Nur al-Din, has highlighted the impartiality problem already. Having helped draft the statute creating the war crimes tribunal, Nur al-Din told journalists on Monday that people in Iraq need "to see the nature of crimes committed with Saddam at the helm". Ahmad Chalabi, another member of the Governing Council, promised: "Saddam will stand a public trial so that the Iraqi people will know his crimes". US President George Bush has also promised that "the former dictator of Iraq will face the justice he denied to millions" - though he did not say where the former president would be tried and by whom.
| He was captured yesterday, or actually the evening before. I suppose that's lots of time to come up with detailed plans for his disposition. |
No judges or administrators have yet been appointed to the tribunal, and with no transitional government set to assume sovereignty until 1 July â questions of how justice is to be meted out are bound to be asked. For instance, could the Iraqi tribunal have the power to impose death sentences? International human rights groups are concerned over early indications.
| Sammy's victims aren't dead anymore, so why should he face the death penalty? |
"The example of the Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu - shot after a summary trial in 1989 - reminds us how things should not be done," said Steve Crawshaw, director, Human Rights Watch.
| I've always thought of that as an exemplary example of the administration of justice, myself. But then, Old Nick's victims were still dead... |
Amnesty International has told Aljazeera.net that as Iraq's former military commander in chief, Hussein is most certainly a prisoner of war and should be given prompt access to the International Red Cross Thingy. "Like any other criminal suspect he is entitled to all relevant safeguards under international law, including the right not to be subjected to torture or ill-treatment", said Amnesty spokeswoman Nicole Shuairy.
| Read it again, Nicole. He's a head of state, a member of the regime. He doesn't become a POW. All those Nazis, all those Japanese militarists, Noriega, the Taliban functionaries, none of them were POWs... |
"Of course he has the right to receive a fair trial, a defense lawyer and the minimum safeguards as any other prisoner," she added.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2003-12-15 |
