AMMAN, 24 December 2005 — Saddam Hussein was severely tortured by US forces, the deposed leader’s chief Iraqi lawyer, Khalil Dulaimi, claimed yesterday, adding that he had seen the bruises. The United States has strenuously denied maltreating Saddam, and the Iraqi judge who investigated the fallen president said that until this week he had always said “No” when asked if he had been abused.
Dulaimi, who still regards Saddam as the president of Iraq, said the torture was revealed to him during a brief interview with Saddam this week, when he led the defense team in the Baghdad trial hearings Wednesday and Thursday.
“The president was tortured severely by the American forces and I saw bruise marks on his body. They are visible,” Dulaimi told The Associated Press in a phone interview after landing in Jordan. “They are still torturing him psychologically,” Dulaimi added. Dulaimi said that on Thursday he had filed a complaint about the torture with the court, urging it to investigate.
In Baghdad, the chief prosecutor in Saddam’s trial, Jaafar Al-Mousawi, told the AP he had not seen such a complaint. He added he planned to visit Saddam and his seven co-defendants to review their health and “listen to their demands and supply them with everything they need.”
Saddam caused a stir Wednesday when, for the first time since his trial began in October, he claimed to have been beaten by US troops and tortured. He insisted “the marks are still there.” On Thursday, Saddam repeated his claims, adding that US government denials could not be trusted.
“The White House lied when it said Iraq had chemical weapons,” Saddam said, referring to the US grounds for invading Iraq in 2003. No such weapons were subsequently found. “I reported all the wounds I got to three medical committees,” Saddam testified. “We are not lying, the White House is lying.”
Dulaimi concurred yesterday that three medical teams had found evidence of torture on Saddam. Judge Raid Juhi, who investigated Saddam, told the AP on Thursday that officials had repeatedly asked Saddam if he had ever been beaten and that he had answered “No” every time. Juhi also said that if Saddam, or his co-defendants, had complained of beatings or torture, doctors would have investigated.
Dulaimi said yesterday that defense lawyers could not meet Saddam for more than one session of 10 minutes during this week’s trial. “This extremely short meeting was carried out with cameras and guards,” Dulaimi said. “This is a flagrant violation of the Geneva Convention on the rights of detainees.”
Saddam’s trial is due to resume on Jan. 24. He and his co-defendants are charged with the murder of more than 140 people who were killed in the town of Dujail, north of Baghdad, in 1982 after an attempt on Saddam’s life. If convicted, the accused could be condemned to death.
Dulaimi and fellow Jordanian lawyer Issam Ghazzawi complained of coming under attack at Baghdad airport by employees who tried to beat them up. But they said the threats would not sway them from defending Saddam, and that they expected more Arab and foreign lawyers to join the defense team when the trial resumes on Jan. 24.
“We were insulted and attacked by a number of airport employees who tried to beat us up” on Tuesday, the day before the trial resumed, Dulaimi said. “I contacted the Americans who provided us with protection,” he added.
Two defense lawyers have already been assassinated since the trial began on Oct. 19. Ghazzawi said that US troops in three Humvees escorted the lawyers from Baghdad airport to the court in the heavily-fortified Green Zone and back after the attorneys refused to pay a private security group to protect them.
“The Americans informed us that a security firm wanted 7,000 dollars to protect us to and from the airport but we rejected the offer and told the Americans we would hold them responsible for our safety,” Ghazzawi said.
US former attorney general Ramsey Clark did not travel to Iraq for the latest hearings for security reasons but would return in January, said the lawyers who are also assisted by former Qatari justice minister Najib Nuaimi. In the meantime Dulaimi said he is compiling a list of “several dozen” defense witnesses but needed first “to guarantee their safety.”
