02 July 2004	Friday	13 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

BAGHDAD, July 1: A defiant and unrepentant Saddam Hussein appeared before an Iraqi judge on Thursday, to hear a string of charges for which the former Iraqi president could face the death penalty.

A visibly tired but calm Saddam Hussein defended his August 1990 invasion of Kuwait and refused to sign legal papers after preliminary charges were read against him, an official of the Iraqi Special Tribunal said.

Saddam Hussein, led to the US-guarded courtroom in handcuffs and chains, was read seven charges that may lead to formal indictment for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

Insisting he was still president of Iraq during the 30-minute hearing, the ousted president, speaking in a hoarse voice, questioned the jurisdiction of the tribunal. Video footage of the 67-year-old ousted president, his face worn and deeply lined with heavy bags under the eyes, was broadcast around the world soon after his 30-minute court appearance.

He was wearing a dark grey pinstriped jacket and a white formal shirt, and had a trimmed, mostly grey beard. It was the first public view of Saddam Hussein since he appeared wildly unkempt in photographs and videotape shot after his capture in December.

The deposed president refused to recognize that he was guilty of a crime in invading Kuwait in 1990, jabbing his finger towards the judge and saying: "I'm surprised you're charging me with that as an Iraqi when everyone knows that Kuwait is part of Iraq."

The judge told him these were legal procedures, but Saddam Hussein interrupted him: "Law, what law?" he asked. "You are putting Saddam Hussein on trial when the Kuwaitis said they could buy Iraqi women for 10 dinars on the street.

The Iraqi soldiers went to defend the honour of Iraq, so what right do these dogs have?" he said, drawing a reprimand from the judge. "This is all a theatre," Saddam Hussein said with a half-smile. "The real criminal is Bush," referring to US President George Bush.

CHAINS AND HANDCUFFS: Saddam Hussein arrived in a US helicopter at a military base and was then driven in an armoured bus to the makeshift courtroom in one of his former palaces near Baghdad international airport.

Two burly Iraqi guards escorted him into the courthouse where his chains were removed. His handcuffs were taken off inside the courtroom itself, where he sat facing cameras. The arraignment was the first step towards a trial which could help Iraq come to terms with 35 years of Baath party rule, though it may not start for many months.

Apart from the 1990 invasion of Kuwait, the preliminary charges against the former president referred to the suppression of Kurdish and Shia revolts after the 1991 Gulf War, poison gas attacks and other massacres of Kurds, the killing of religious leaders in 1974 and the killing of political figures over three decades.

Hearing the charge that he ordered the gassing of thousands of Kurds in an attack at Halabja in 1988, Saddam Hussein shrugged it off, saying he had heard of the incident through the media.

The proceedings took place at Camp Victory, a US base near the main airport, where the US military is thought to have held the former president in solitary confinement at a high-security detention centre known as Camp Cropper.

Similar hearings were held later for 11 of his former aides, including former deputy prime minister Tareq Aziz, Saddam's half-brothers and Hassan Ali al-Majid, known as 'Chemical Ali' for his alleged role in using poison gas on Kurds and Iranians.

The US military handed the 12 men over to Iraqi legal custody on Wednesday, two days after Iraq's interim government regained sovereign powers, but will continue to guard them.

CHALLENGING AUTHORITY: Without a lawyer to represent him, Saddam Hussein refused to sign a statement acknowledging he had been charged and read his rights. One foreign lawyer hired by the former president's wife to represent him said the absence of a defence attorney breached Saddam's rights.

Told by the judge that counsel would be provided later if he could not pay for his own, the former president offered a sardonic reply: "Everyone says, the Americans say, I have millions of dollars stashed away in Geneva. Why shouldn't I afford a lawyer?"

Other foreign lawyers said Saddam Hussein could not get a fair trial in Iraq. One said he should face an international tribunal. Iraqi Deputy Foreign Minister Hamid al-Bayati said: "The regime that committed the most terrible crimes in the world is now on trial.

I think the Iraqi people will be satisfied with the death penalty and no less than that." Kuwait reiterated its call for Saddam to be executed: "Saddam's remarks today are the biggest evidence of megalomania," Information Minister Mohammad Abulhasan said.

Iraq's interim government is considering restoring the death penalty, suspended during the US-British occupation. Prime Minister Iyad Allawi wants to show Iraqis the occupation is really over, despite the presence of US-led foreign troops, and to prove it can curb violence. The multinational force in Iraq is now commanded by US Gen George Casey, who took over from Lt-Gen Ricardo Sanchez on Thursday, a US military spokesman said. -Reuters

SEVEN CHARGES

BAGHDAD: Saddam Hussein is facing charges of "crimes against humanity", an official from the Iraqi special tribunal trying the former president said.

The charges relate to:

1) The gassing of the Kurds in Halabja in 1988.

2) The violent suppression of the 1991 Shia uprising.

3) Mass graves of Kurds and Shias after the 1991 Gulf War.

4) The launching the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war.

5) The 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

6) Massacre of members of the Kurdish Barzani tribe in the 1980s.

7) Killing of Shia religious leaders between 1980 and 1999. -AFP