Baghdad, Iraq – The chief judge in Saddam Hussein’s genocide trial was replaced Tuesday amid complaints from Shiite and Kurdish officials that he was too easy on the deposed Iraqi leader.
It was the second time that a chief judge was changed while Hussein was on trial; in each case there were accusations that Hussein was allowed too much leeway in court.
Abdullah al-Amiri was replaced on the five-member panel by his deputy in the trial, Mohammed al-Uraibiy, a court official said.
The new chief judge is a Shiite Arab, as is al-Amiri.
The Iraqi High Tribunal, the country’s supreme court, sought the change and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki approved it, a government official said. Both officials asked not to be named because they are not authorized to speak to the media.
An attorney defending senior officials in Hussein’s former regime decried the change as purely political.
“This was a coup that succeeded. There was no legal reason for removing him (al-Amiri),” defense lawyer Badee Izzat Aref told The Associated Press. “They (court officials) felt that he would not respond to their demands.”
Hussein al-Duri, an aide to al-Maliki, said one reason for the change was al-Amiri’s statement in court last week, in which he told Hussein: “You were not a dictator.”
In Iraq, al-Duri told al-Arabiya television: “It is not allowed for the judge to express his opinion.”
Al-Amiri’s comment angered many Kurds and Shiites and fueled criticism that he was too lenient with Hussein. Prosecutors had earlier asked for al-Amiri to be replaced after he allowed Hussein to lash out at Kurdish witnesses in court.
