CAMBRIDGE, England — Nearly two years after an Iraqi court sentenced Saddam Hussein to death, new disclosures by Western lawyers who helped guide the court have given fresh ammunition to critics who contend that he was railroaded to the gallows by vengeful officials in Iraq’s new government.
These lawyers say the Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, forced the resignation of one of five judges in the trial only days before the court sentenced Hussein. The purpose, the lawyers say, was to avert the possibility that judges who were wavering would spare Hussein the death penalty and sentence him to life imprisonment instead.
The disclosures, made amid a steep decline in violence in Iraq, seem likely to raise fresh questions about the degree to which the Bush administration has succeeded in promoting democratic principles, including the rule of law, among Iraq’s new leaders.
They also will lend new momentum to die-hard Baathists who regard Hussein as a martyr.
The New York Times
