Shi'ites rejoice at prospects for justice

Yesterday, Shi'ites daydreamed about new ways to humiliate the man they call "the destroyer," squabbled over whether to try him under secular or religious law, and noisily demonstrated against him in Basra, the largest city in the mostly Shi'ite south, where thousands were arrested and executed following abortive rebellions against Hussein in 1991 and 1999.

They also called for his trial to focus on those repressions, in which tens of thousands of Shi'ites are believed to have been executed in secret, often buried in mass graves. Hussein's government favored minority Sunni Muslims, particularly from the region around his hometown of Tikrit, over other ethnic groups, including the majority Shi'ites.

"This is the first step toward justice, to have him tried," said Sheik Amar Samour Adjami, 25, who said he was arrested and tortured without trial in 1999 and returned home with feet scarred from electric shocks. "Shi'ites have to use their power to get their rights in our own country, and for justice to prevail for Shi'ites and Sunnis, not for the Sunnis only. . . . It will help Iraqis regain trust and security."

In Basra yesterday, the first organized political protests by major Shi'ite parties there drew hundreds of demonstrators. In neighboring Iran, which is ruled by a Shi'ite theocracy, judiciary chief Ayatollah Sayyed Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi called for Hussein to be tried by an Iraqi court to demonstrate "the innocence" of both Iraqis and Iranians executed by his regime.

And while many Iraqis have expressed shame that Hussein was arrested by occupying forces, wholehearted support for that particular act of intervention could be found yesterday in Sadr City, Baghdad's poorest slum and home to 1 million Shi'ites, where US soldiers have often encountered hostile crowds.

A crowd of children trotted after an American journalist yesterday shouting "Thank you" and waving old dinar notes emblazoned with Hussein's face. Adjami's father, Samour Adjami Faraj, said that when he saw President Bush on television the night of the arrest, "I went up to the TV and kissed him on the forehead."

Moqtada Al Sadr, leader of one of the more radical Shi'ite parties, issued a statement imparting religious significance to the arrest, noting that it took place shortly before the Dec. 31 anniversary of the regime's execution of his father, a widely respected cleric, which sparked the 1999 rebellion.

"This great event has lifted my heart," Sheik Abdelhadi Al Daraji, one of Sadr's deputies, read from the statement at his headquarters in the heart of the neighborhood. "It has removed the anger and sadness which this destroyer laid on our hearts when he deprived us of our leader."

Almost unanimously, Shi'ites want Hussein to be tried in an Iraqi court, saying his crimes affected Iraqis most directly while the international community failed to stop them. But their enthusiasm could also carry the seeds of conflict. Shi'ites, like the leaders of the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council, called for a trial to start within months. US officials have said it may take more than a year to finish interrogating Hussein and prepare the Iraqi courts to handle such a complicated proceeding.

"We will demonstrate if it doesn't happen," said Jabbar Samour Adjami, 30, an older brother of the once imprisoned sheikh.

Shi'ites also were unified in calling for trials of thousands of secret police and other lower-level regime members, while some Sunnis fear that branding too many people as criminals will hamper national reconciliation.

"Even Saddam's lowest-ranking officer has probably executed someone," said Raad Saddam al Musawi, who sold sacks of flour and bottled orange soda in a corner store. Even between Shi'ite parties, there were disagreements. Members of the more moderate Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, backed the Governing Council's plan to try Hussein according to secular law, while followers of Sadr called for a trial by stricter Islamic law, or sharia.

In Sadr City, the feelings about Hussein's arrest don't necessarily make people more warmly disposed toward the US presence overall. They still hold America responsible for supporting him throughout the 1980s and later failing to support the Shi'ite uprising.

But yesterday, the mood was festive. Musawi, the shopkeeper, suggested filling Baghdad's largest stadium with victims of the regime and charging $25 to $100 to see the captive dictator.

Khalid Adjami, an organizer for the Supreme Council, said he looks forward to a public trial so he can ask Hussein why he portrayed himself as a religious man while killing Muslims. "I want to ask him if he really had a belief in what he was doing," Adjami said. Anne Barnard can be reached at abarnard@globe.com.