Lawyer in Saddam case abducted, killed
Foreign Desk Report
BAGHDAD—A defense lawyer for one of Saddam Hussein’s co-defendants was
shot dead after being abducted, police said on Friday, in a grim new
twist to a case meant to turn the page on Iraq’s bloody past.
Saadoun Janabi was kidnapped from his small Baghdad office late on
Thursday, witnesses said. Police said on Friday his body was later found
shot execution-style in the chest and head.
Iraq’s government condemned the murder, which some human rights groups
said could have a “chilling effect” on Saddam’s defense team and dim
hopes for a fair trial amid relentless political bloodshed.
Janabi was attorney for Awad al-Bander, a former judge who appeared with
Saddam and six other co-accused in court on Wednesday at the start of
their trial on charges stemming from the killings and executions of more
than 140 men in the 1980s.
Bander is accused of overseeing the trials of dozens of men from the
Shi’ite town of Dujail north of Baghdad who were sentenced to death in
the wake of a failed assassination attempt against Saddam in July, 1982.
The Dujail case is the first against Saddam, who is also expected to
face charges of war crimes and genocide for a series of offences during
his brutal three-decade rule over Iraq.
The assassination of Janabi, who Baghdad lawyers said had been an old
personal friend of the former dictator, came as Saddam’s formerly
dominant Sunni Arab minority wages a bloody insurgency against the
Shi’ite- and Kurdish-led government and its U.S. backers.
Both Baghdad and Washington hope the trial, which began just days after
a referendum on a new constitution, will prove a unifying force and draw
a line under Saddam’s dictatorship. But some human rights groups fear it
may be simple “victor’s justice” that could further the exacerbate
sectarian tensions that have already pushed Iraq to the brink of civil
war.
Iraq’s Electoral Commission said on Friday final results from the
October 15 constitutional referendum would not be released for another
day or two. They had been expected on Friday. The constitution, which
Washington hopes will stabilize Iraq as a democratic ally and allow it
to begin withdrawing its 150,000 troops, is believed to have passed
despite opposition from many Sunni Arabs who say it seals their
political eclipse. The U.S. military announced on Friday that three
marines and a soldier had been killed, bringing the total number of U.S.
servicemen and women who have died in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion
to at least 1,992.
Witnesses said Janabi’s kidnappers — heavily-armed and wearing suits and
ties — identified themselves as employees of the Interior Ministry,
often accused by Sunni groups as sanctioning hit squads run by Shi’ite
militiamen. The ministry has repeatedly denied the allegations, and the
government on Friday denied any involvement in the murder, saying it was
ready to boost the already tight trial security.
“Those suggestions are ridiculous and baseless. The government does not
condone attacks against minorities and former figures in Saddam’s Baath
Party,” National Security Adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie told reporters.
“If the defense team asks the government for extra protection we are
more than happy to provide it in the way of secure locations and
personal guards,” he said.
But human rights groups, which have called for the trial to be held in
an international court outside of Iraq, said the attack showed the risks
of holding such a trial in Iraq’s desperately polarized political
environment.
“This could have a chilling effect on the willingness of competent
lawyers to vigorously defend the accused and that could have a fatal
effect on the fairness and effectiveness of the trial,” said Richard
Dicker, head of the international justice program at rights watchdog
Human Rights Watch.
The head of the Iraqi Bar Association, Khamal Hamdoon Mulla Allawi,
called on the government to guarantee protection for all involved in the
trial.
“It’s obvious that the goal behind this horrible crime is to shake the
course of justice,” he told reporters.
Janabi was one of the few lawyers to address the court at Wednesday’s
hearing, which was broadcast around the world from a heavily guarded
courtroom at the center of Baghdad’s fortified government “Green Zone”
before it was adjourned until November 28.
Echoing complaints from other defense lawyers, Janabi said the defense
team had had insufficient time to study evidence. Most observers expect
Saddam and the other accused to be quickly convicted and put to death.
Arab League chief Amr Moussa, who is in Baghdad seeking to reconcile the
country’s hostile factions, was due to meet Foreign Minister Hoshiyar
Zebari on Friday following high-level talks with Prime Minister Ibrahim
Jaafari on Thursday.
Moussa has voiced growing fears among Sunni-ruled Arab states that Iraq
may be careering toward civil war that could spread across the region —
drawing the ire of some Shi’ite leaders who say the 22-member League is
biased against them. |
