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| Rights groups say death of Sammy's lawyer raises concerns about Iraqi justice |
| 2005-10-22 |
| The murder of a defence lawyer in the trial of Saddam Hussein and other former Ba'athist leaders casts doubt on the fairness of the US-backed court, human rights groups and international lawyers said yesterday. Saadoun Janabi, a friend of the former dictator, was found shot dead shortly after being kidnapped on Thursday by armed men who identified themselves as interior ministry employees. He had represented Awad al-Bander, a former senior Iraqi judge who appeared in court with Saddam and six other defendants on Wednesday at the start of their trial. Janabi was one of the few lawyers to address the court. Richard Dicker, head of Human Rights Watch's international justice programme, told Reuters: "This could have a chilling effect on the willingness of competent lawyers to vigorously defend the accused." Miranda Sissons, a senior associate with the International Centre for Transitional Justice, added: "We have long had concerns about an effective witness protection programme for this trial. This murder highlights the lack of attention the court is paying to the defence, which has implications for the equality of the trial." Security fears led officials to conceal the identity of four of the five judges. Only the presiding judge was named and shown on television. Witnesses are less well protected and Janabi's murder shows the defence team is under serious threat. The judge in the case postponed the trial until November 28 after its first session, on the grounds that several people who were due to testify on behalf of the prosecution were afraid to appear. But one prosecution witness will testify tomorrow at a US detention centre where he is being held near Baghdad's international airport. Wadah Ismael al-Sheik, a senior Iraqi intelligence officer at the time of the massacre of about 150 Shias at Dujail in 1982, is suffering from cancer. The Iraqi government denied having a hand in Janabi's murder yesterday. "If the defence team asks the government for extra protection we are more than happy to provide it," said the national security adviser, Mowaffak al-Rubaie. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #1 Rights Groups ignoring the crimes against humanity on just the very basic level by Saddam and the daily harangue on America's failure to achieve a perfection unattained by any other major nation in history raises concerns that I don't give a damn about what they think anymore. And I don't. |
| Posted by: Glealing Sluper3406 2005-10-22 07:48 |