BAGHDAD, 14 June 2005 — Stroking his beard, Saddam Hussein appeared relaxed and confident as a judge questioned him about the killings of dozens of Shiite villagers, a case Iraq’s government may believe could lead to a swift trial.
In a film released yesterday by the Iraqi Special Tribunal that will try him on charges of crimes against humanity, the former Iraqi president was not audible but he seemed defiant, staring intensely at the judge.
“Answer the question. Answer the question,” said presiding judge Raad Jouhi, firmly enough for his lips to be read.
Iraqis may be preoccupied with suicide bombings, kidnappings and rampant crime, but Saddam’s rare appearances stir emotions in a country where some of his supporters are leading an insurgency that has killed thousands.
Wearing a dark jacket and tieless white shirt, the man accused of ordering the torture and killing of thousands of Iraqis and the burial of many in mass graves put his chin in his hand and listened calmly as the young magistrate spoke.
Saddam was questioned about the killings of dozens of men from the Shiite village of Dujail, where he survived an assassination attempt in July 1982.
The prosecution will allege that over 140 executions and other killings were carried out in reprisal for the attempt to shoot Saddam as his motorcade passed through the village, north of Baghdad.
Four of Saddam’s former aides were also questioned about their alleged role in the 1988 Anfal campaign against the Kurds, which included a chemical gas attack that killed 5,000 people in the village of Halabja.
Such officials are well known to Iraqis, who often saw them on television beside Saddam and never thought the most powerful people in their country could be tried.
On the film, this time with sound, they seemed less energetic than Saddam as the judge asked about their previous positions in the administration and then focused on their activities in the late 1980s, when Kurds say Iraqi forces and intelligence agents killed thousands and razed villages.
Taher Tawfiq Al-Ani, secretary of the Revolutionary Command Council’s northern affairs committee, appeared tired as he recalled his involvement in Kurdish territory.
Saddam’s cousin Barzan Abdel Ghafoor, former commander of the Special Republican Guard and No. 11 on Washington’s 55 most wanted list in Iraq, was questioned about his activities in 1991, the year a Shiite uprising in the wake of Saddam’s Gulf War defeat was crushed by the Republican Guard.
The London-based legal adviser to Saddam Hussein said the new video would be inadmissible in his trial. Saddam’s legal adviser Giovanni di Stefano confirmed the video of the former dictator.
“We were aware this interrogation was on video,” di Stefano said.
“President Hussein was, however, without the benefit of legal assistance.
“In accordance with Article 20 of the Special Iraqi Tribunal rules, it follows that any content within the interrogations are deemed inadmissible,” di Stefano said.
Di Stefano, who will represent Saddam in a US civil court case, said he planned to visit the former Iraqi leader within the month. “There is jurisdiction in the American civil case and I will visit Saddam to take instructions within 13 days,” di Stefano said.
Saddam’s chief lawyer, Khalil Al-Duleimi, said he would have to see the video before commenting.
