BAGHDAD, 18 January 2006 — Iraq’s president stepped into the debate over the future of the troubled court trying Saddam Hussein yesterday, suggesting it be moved from Baghdad to his own Kurdish home region to improve security.
Jalal Talabani’s proposal came as a split emerged inside the court over how to choose a successor to Kurdish Judge Rizgar Amin; he resigned in protest at political pressure, buffeting a trial already rocked by the killings of two defense lawyers. “If there are judges here who will feel in danger in future, we are ready to take them to Kurdistan and they would be safe there and guarded very well,” Talabani told Reuters in Baghdad.
Moving the US-sponsored tribunal from the violent but politically neutral setting of Baghdad to the relative safety of Kurdistan seems unlikely; Kurds, who see themselves as victims of Saddam, are deeply hostile to the former leader and that could damage efforts to demonstrate the court’s fairness.
Some rights groups have urged the government to hold a trial abroad in an international court. They question Iraq’s ability to stage a fair trial amid sectarian and ethnic conflict.
Disputes over finding a permanent successor if chief judge Amin continues to resist efforts to get him to withdraw his resignation could further dent the image of the court.
The administration of the Iraqi High Tribunal, effectively the five-member appeals chamber meeting as the executive arm of the court, wants Sayeed Al-Hamashi, the senior of Amin’s four colleagues on the trial panel judging Saddam, to be appointed as his permanent replacement, a tribunal source told Reuters.
Hamashi had already been chosen on Monday temporarily to preside over the trial when it resumes on Jan. 24 — in line with rules designed to cope with brief illnesses or other absences. Talks are still going on to persuade Amin, who lives in Talabani’s power base of Sulaimaniya, to return to Baghdad.
