Baghdad, Iraq – The genocide trial of Saddam Hussein erupted in shouting and scuffling Tuesday morning, and all seven defendants had been cleared from the courtroom in the afternoon when testimony continued into alleged prison brutalities.
Chief Judge Mohammed Oreibi al-Khalifa cut off the microphone when the former leader began his cross-examination of the first witness with the apparent quotation from the Koran, “Fight them, and God will torture them.”
Al-Khalifa and Hussein then began arguing so loudly that their voices could be heard through thick glass. Hussein complained that the judge made him stand while witnesses were allowed to sit.
Al-Khalifa ordered the guards to eject him. Hussein went quietly, but co-defendant Hussein Rashid Mohammed jumped from his chair and yelled, “Long live Iraq!”
Mohammed flailed his arms as two guards tried to force him to sit as reporters were cleared from the court. When the journalists reached the media room, they could see on monitors that Mohammed was no longer in the courtroom.
Later, Hussein’s cousin and co-defendant Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as Chemical Ali, was heard to say: “I hope to get executed. It’s better than this mockery.” At that point, the court went into closed session.
The broadcast resumed in the afternoon with all the defendants absent.
Hussein and his co-defendants are on trial for a bloody crackdown on Kurdish rebels in the late 1980s that killed as many as 100,000 people.
The defense team again boycotted the trial Tuesday to protest the replacement last month of the original judge, who was accused by critics of being soft on the defense.
