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Saddam Hussein in Court 01.07.04(BBC News 24) close X Running Time Approximately: 2 hours Playlist Order: [reversed] Right Click video window - to navigate/skip back and forth footage. Saddam Hussein Appears in Court ORIGINAL ARTICLE / TEXT SOURCE URL: bbc.co.uk/news Iraq's ex-leader Saddam Hussein has made a defiant appearance before an Iraqi judge, branding President George W Bush as the "real criminal". He defended Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990, said he was still president and rejected the court's jurisdiction. He arrived in handcuffs and chains at the court near Baghdad airport to hear charges of war crimes and genocide. TV pictures of the hearing were released to international broadcasters shortly after the hearing finished. Lengthy process The images - cleared for broadcast by the US military - were the first of Saddam Hussein since his capture in December. They showed Iraq's former president looking thin, haggard and with a trimmed, grey beard. [Below Taken From the Guardian.co.uk] Defiant Saddam faces court Agencies Thursday July 1, 2004 A defiant Saddam Hussein today refused to recognise the authority of an Iraqi court charging him with crimes against humanity, and instead accused the US president, George Bush, of being the "real criminal". "I am Saddam Hussein, the president of Iraq," the former dictator replied when asked to identify himself to the court, reporters attending the hearing said. Saddam looked calm and collected, and was wearing a pinstripe suit with a white shirt and no tie. He had a neatly-trimmed "salt and pepper" beard, and well-styled black hair. It was an image completely different to the world's last glimpse of him following his capture by US forces in December. He reportedly listened quietly as seven charges against him - including the 1990 invasion of Kuwait - were read out. He then condemned the proceedings as illegal, and refused to sign the list of charges. Charges against him also included the gassing of the Kurds at Halabja in 1988, the killing of members of political parties, and the suppression of Kurdish and Shia uprisings following the first Gulf war in 1991. The CNN reporter in court said that Saddam appeared tired and downcast, but defiant. He jabbed his finger in the air and insisted he had invaded Kuwait to protect the Iraqi people from these "dogs", referring to the Kuwaitis. The judge immediately told him not to use such language in the court. The man who had commanded Iraq for 30 years arrived at the tribunal's secret location amid tight security. He travelled to the courtroom in an armoured bus, which was escorted by four heavily-armed military Humvees and an ambulance. He was then led into the building by two Iraqi prison guards and ushered through a door guarded by six Iraqi policemen. Reporters said he was handcuffed, but his feet were not shackled. A video of the pre-recorded hearing was released, but without the accompanying audio. The delay allowed Iraqi authorities to pixelate images of the legal teams to protect lawyers from possible revenge attacks. Also today, 11 of Saddam's top lieutenants were today being flown in to hear charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. Earlier, Salem Chalabi, the US-trained lawyer heading the Iraqi special tribunal, had said Saddam would be charged with crimes associated with the 1988 gassing of Kurds, the 1990 invasion of Kuwait, and the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war. The former Iraqi president did not have lawyers to represent him at today's initial arraignment, and formal indictments may not be ready for months. A legal process that could take years to complete yesterday began when the 12 defendants, who include Saddam's former deputy prime minister, Tariq Aziz, and Ali Hasan al-Majid, better known as Chemical Ali, were transferred to Iraqi legal custody. Although the US authorities will continue to hold the defendants for some time, the legal formality means they will avoid the limbo of detainees at Guantánamo Bay and US-controlled prisons in Aghanistan. No longer prisoners of war, they are criminal defendants whose treatment will be in accordance with Iraqi law. The first trials are not expected to start before 2005. Iraq's president, Ghazi al-Yawer, raised the stakes when he said the new government had decided to reinstate the death penalty, which had been suspended during the US-led occupation. Pre-trial negotiations over whether to permit Saddam's foreign legal team to work in Iraq, whether to televise the proceedings live, and the reinstatement of capital punishment, are already under way. The European court of human rights yesterday rejected an urgent appeal to stop Britain from taking part in Saddam's transfer. The fast-track appeal was filed with the Strasbourg court by Saddam's US lawyer, Curtis Doebbler. It said Saddam should not be transferred "unless and until the Iraqi interim government has provided adequate assurances that the applicant will not be subject to the death penalty". Lawyers argued that, as a signatory to the court's convention on human rights, Britain was obliged to ensure that people under its control - which they said included Saddam - were not subject to torture, degrading treatment or the death penalty. However, the court ruled that lawyers had failed to establish "the reality and imminent threat of harm". British ministers today signalled that the government was prepared to back tough action by Iraq's interim administration, both against the country's former rulers and insurgents currently seeking to destabilise it. The foreign secretary, Jack Straw, said that, while Britain opposed the use of the death penalty in principle, it was a matter for the Iraqi authorities to determine whether it might be applied to Saddam and his colleagues. Mohammad Rashdan - one of the 20-strong legal team representing the former president - today said he had been denied access to his client, and accused the Iraqi government of threatening to kill Saddam's lawyers. "Yesterday, the ministry of justice and the ministry of defence said if there was any advocate from the committee of defence arising in Iraq, they would kill them and cut them into small pieces," Mr Rashdan said. "I don't know how we can represent our client." Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he called for international protection to enable him to see Saddam. Many Iraqis who suffered under the Saddam regime are keen to see him brought to public justice. Kati Hamadi, a mother of three who lost her husband and brother to Saddam's henchmen during the 80s and 90s, told Reuters: "There must be a way to really make him suffer. "Having an Iraqi trial is an excellent idea. It will expose his murderous past and let Iraqis know all the things he has to answer for. Iraqis need to hear that." The seven preliminary charges against Saddam Hussein Here are the seven preliminary charges the deposed Iraqi leader faces: · Invading Kuwait, 1990 · Suppressing Kurdish and Shi'ite uprisings, 1991 · Anfal ethnic cleansing campaign against Kurds, 1987-88 · Gassing Kurdish villagers in Halabja, 1988 · Killing political activists over 30 years · Killing religious figures, 1974 · Killing thousands of the Kurdish Barzani clan, 1983

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