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Saddam's claims of abuse denied in court
(AP)
Updated: 2005-12-23 07:04
An investigative judge said Thursday that Iraqi officials repeatedly asked
Saddam Hussein and his co-defendants if they had ever been beaten and they
answered 'no' every time, contradicting the ousted leader's claim he was abused
by American guards.
Former Iraqi
President Saddam Hussein addresses the court during the resumption of his
trial on Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2005 in Baghdad,
Iraq. [AP] | Judge Raid Juhi told The
Associated Press that a medical team would have investigated if Saddam or any of
his seven co-defendants had complained of beatings or torture.
The comments came as Saddam's often-theatrical trial began a monthlong recess
following two days of testimony about alleged torture and the deaths of more
than 140 Iraqis after a 1982 attempt to kill Saddam in Dujail. The defendants
could face death by hanging if convicted.
Like most sessions of the trial so far, Thursday's had its share of drama.
The defense team threatened to walk out and a prosecutor tried to resign, saying
he had been insulted by defendant Barazan Ibrahim, the head of the Iraqi
intelligence services in 1982.
A day earlier, Saddam told the court he had been beaten "everywhere" on his
body, insisting "the marks are still there." He did not display any marks, but
said it took some wounds eight months to heal.
On Thursday, Saddam said American denials that he was beaten could not be
believed, noting that no weapons of mass destruction had been found in Iraq
despite President Bush's prewar claims that Saddam was harboring such weapons.
"The White House lied when it said Iraq had chemical weapons," Saddam said.
"I reported all the wounds I got to three medical committees. ... We are not
lying; the White House is lying."
But Juhi, who prepared the case against Saddam, said that neither the
defendants nor their lawyers had ever complained about beatings. Officials also
never saw signs of beatings, he said.
The court heard from six witnesses over the two days, including one Thursday
who testified from behind the cover of a curtain, sounding as though he
struggled to hold back tears while describing the scene at a desert camp where
some of the Dujail families were held.
"It was a situation beyond description," he said. "Women were crying.
Children were crying." Witnesses have the option of not having their identities
revealed as a security measure to protect them against reprisals by Saddam
loyalists.
Another witness said six of his brothers had been executed and a seventh was
killed in Dujail. A third said that his father, uncles and grandmother were
taken away by security officials and tortured, and that all but his grandmother
were never seen again.
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