BAGHDAD, 20 June 2006 — The prosecutor asked for the death penalty for Saddam Hussein and two of his top codefendants, saying in his closing arguments yesterday that the former Iraqi leader and his regime committed crimes against humanity in a “revenge” attack on Shiites in the 1980s.
The arguments brought the eight-month-old trial into its final phase. After yesterday’s session, the court adjourned until July 10, when the defense will begin making its final summation.
Saddam, dressed in a black suit, sat silently, sometimes taking notes, as chief prosecutor Jaafar Al-Moussawi delivered his arguments, listing the evidence against each of the eight defendants. Concluding his remarks, Al-Moussawi asked for the death penalty for Saddam, his half-brother Barzan Ibrahim Al-Tikriti — the head of the Mukhabarat intelligence agency at the time — and Taha Yassin Ramadan, a former senior regime member.
“The prosecution asks for the harshest penalty against them, because they spread corruption on earth, they showed no mercy even for the old, for women or for children, and even the trees were not safe from their oppression,” he said. “The law calls for the death penalty and this is what we ask be implemented.”
“Well done,” Saddam muttered sarcastically.
The defense will likely take several sessions for its closing arguments. Then the five-judge panel is expected to call an adjournment to consider its verdicts against the eight defendants.
It is not known how long it will take for the judges to reach a decision. But the timeframe could mean verdicts as early as August or September.
Moussawi asked for lenient sentences for three of the lower-level defendants — Abdullah Kazim Ruwayyid, his son Mizhar Ruwayyid and Ali Dayih — saying they committed their “acts to carry out orders issued by their superiors.” He asked for the release of another defendant, Mohammed Azawi Ali, saying the evidence was not sufficient against him.
He did not specify a sentence for Awad Al-Bandar, the former head of Saddam’s Revolutionary Court, which sentenced 148 Shiites to death. Al-Moussawi said Al-Bandar’s actions “supported the crimes” committed by the others and asked that he be sentenced “according to the tribunal’s law,” which could include the death penalty or imprisonment.
The defendants are accused of charges of crimes against humanity for a crackdown against Shiites in Dujail, launched after a shooting attack on Saddam’s motorcade as he visited the town in 1982. They are accused of arresting hundreds of people in the crackdown, including women and children, torturing some to death and killing the 148.
In his arguments, Moussawi cast doubt on whether there was a real attempt to kill Saddam. But he said even if there was, the regime’s response went far beyond a real investigation into the shooting — which he said consisted only of at most 15 shots that hurt no one.
