Bush Asks Kuwait to Keep Its Trials Fair : Justice: Mild displeasure is expressed over the military tribunal’s proceedings.

President Bush delivered a mild rebuke on Monday to Kuwait in the wake of the first trials of defendants accused of collaborating with the Iraqi occupation. He urged the Kuwaiti government to “extend a fair trial to everybody.”

While Bush’s comments demonstrated mild displeasure with the trial’s conduct, the President went out of his way to emphasize the brutality that Kuwaitis had been subjected to during the seven months that Iraqi forces occupied their nation.

Speaking at an early evening news conference in the Rose Garden, Bush said he could “understand that there’s a lot of bitterness among those Kuwaitis who saw their country raped and pillaged in an unconscionable way.”

But, he said, “I think it would be in Kuwait’s interest to extend a fair trial to everybody and be as compassionate as one can, given the outrages they faced.”

A military tribunal convicted six defendants Sunday. The harshest sentence, 15 years in prison, was meted out to a man whose only published crime was wearing a T-shirt bearing the face of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Four others were acquitted, and preliminary evidence was heard in the cases of 12 other accused collaborators.

The trial was marked by a lack of adherence to the rights of defendants, as traditionally granted under American law: No witnesses were called, either by the prosecution or defense; some defendants said they had been beaten into making false confessions; and some defense lawyers said they were given no chance to present exonerating evidence or to cross-examine police informers.

At the State Department, spokeswoman Margaret Tutwiler was more blunt than the President, saying: “Fifteen years for wearing a T-shirt is a little steep.”

The conduct of Kuwaiti justice puts the Bush Administration in an awkward position. Even before the war against Iraq ended, Administration officials began delivering quiet reminders to the Kuwaitis that they were expected to adhere to international human rights standards. But, having fought to restore the government, it is difficult for the Administration to publicly chastise its conduct.

In another area, Bush reiterated his Administration’s opposition to lifting sanctions against Iraq while Hussein controls the government. The President’s deputy national security adviser, Robert M. Gates, had disclosed the President’s position May 7, but Bush himself had not publicly addressed the issue until Monday.

“At this juncture my view is we don’t want to lift these sanctions as long as Saddam Hussein is in power,” the President said.