New judge expels 2 at Hussein trial

BAGHDAD -- A new judge cracked down yesterday on court outbursts in a chaotic session of Saddam Hussein's trial, ordering a co-defendant and a lawyer expelled from the courtroom. The entire defense team left in protest and Hussein was escorted out after a shouting match in which he yelled, ''Down with America!"

Despite the turmoil, Chief Judge Raouf Rasheed Abdel- Rahman pushed ahead, replacing the defense lawyers with court- appointed attorneys and hearing three prosecution witnesses before adjourning the trial until later this week.

It was Abdel-Rahman's first session at the helm, replacing a jurist who stepped down amid criticism that he was not doing enough to stop Hussein and his half brother, co- defendant Barzan Ibrahim, from dominating the trial with frequent outbursts and disruptions.

Defense lawyers criticized the tough approach, saying it was preventing Hussein and his seven co-defendants from getting a fair trial. The eight could face death by hanging if convicted in the killing of at least 140 Shi'ites after a July 1982 attempt on Hussein's life in the town of Dujail, north of Baghdad.

Abdel-Rahman wasted little time in distinguishing himself from his predecessor, Judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin, telling the court at the start of the proceedings that anyone who broke the rules would be thrown out.

The session, which was the first since Dec. 22, rapidly degenerated into chaos.

Ibrahim called the court ''the daughter of a whore" and refused to sit down. Abdel-Rahman ordered him removed, and Ibrahim scuffled with two guards before they dragged him out of the courtroom.

Then defense lawyer Salih al-Armouti, a Jordanian, was forcibly removed from the court for yelling at Abdel-Rahman.

The defense team walked out in protest.

''This is an unjust and illegitimate court," Khalil al-Dulaimi, Hussein's chief lawyer, told the judge on the way out.

Protesting Ibrahim's expulsion and shouting ''down with traitors" and ''down with America," Hussein got into a heated argument with the judge, rejecting the court-appointed lawyers and demanding to leave.

When the judge ordered guards to remove him, Hussein -- holding a Koran under his arm -- became indignant, saying he was choosing to go and referring to his time in power.

''For 35 years I led you, and you say, 'Eject him?' " Hussein said.

''I am a judge and you are a defendant," Abdel-Rahman replied. ''And you have violated order in the court. I am implementing the law."

After two more defendants asked to leave, the trial continued with only four defendants present and none of their original lawyers.

The court-appointed lawyers declined opportunities to cross- examine the three witnesses, who all spoke of mass detentions and torture after the attempt on Hussein's life.

Richard Dicker, head of the International Justice Program at Human Rights Watch based in New York, said the failure to question the witnesses was ''probably the most disturbing part of the day."

''The events take us further away from the basic practices of fairness that are necessary in any trial and especially in a trial of this significance," he said.

Ibrahim's comments were ''clearly provocative and disrespectful," but Abdel-Rahman was ''a little too trigger-happy," he said.

Raid Juhi, the court's investigating judge and spokesman, said Abdel-Rahman acted within the law to maintain order.

The defense team can petition to return, and ''the court will look into any such request," he told reporters at the court.

Some Iraqis praised Abdel-Rahman for imposing control on a court they said had gotten out of hand under Amin.

Saeed al-Hammash, a former member of the five-judge panel hearing the case who was removed in the recent shake-up, said Ibrahim had been trying to derail the session. ''The judge's decision was right when he threw him out of the court," he said.

It was the latest drama in a trial beset by delays, the assassination of two defense lawyers, and the controversy over the change in judges.

Critics have said the turmoil gives credence to assertions that Hussein cannot get a fair trial in a country torn apart by ethnic, religious, and tribal divisions, and an insurgency comprising large numbers of his supporters.