Patience Runs Thin at Hussein Trial

Tempers were snapping Monday in the courtroom as lawyers for Saddam Hussein pushed the judge to dismiss the human rights case against the former Iraqi leader and seven codefendants.

The defendants have been accused of orchestrating the massacre of 148 people in retribution for a failed assassination attempt against Hussein in 1982. But defense attorneys pressed their claim Monday that at least 14 of those people were not killed. Some of the alleged victims are still alive and others died in the Iran-Iraq war, they said.

Judge Raouf Rasheed Abdel Rahman had little patience for their complaints. Nor was he pleased to find most defense witnesses scheduled to testify hadn’t shown up; lawyers said they were too scared to appear.

Abdel Rahman ordered the lawyers to produce documents proving that the alleged victims in the village of Dujayl weren’t really executed. In scathing tones, he also accused members of the defense of turning a judicial process into a political show and ordered them to bring a final list of witnesses by next Monday.

“How many times have you made this request?” he snapped when lawyers asked the court to call off the trial. “Frankly, you are not helping justice. All you care about is obstructing the work of the court. Focus on your defense and clearing the defendants.”

After arguing for an hour with lawyers, the judge canceled court for the rest of the week. The trial resumes Monday.

Hussein could face execution if convicted.