BAGHDAD, Sept 19: Iraq’s Shia-led cabinet on Tuesday removed the chief judge in the genocide trial of Saddam Hussein, accusing him of being biased towards the defendant, a government spokesman said.

“I can confirm he has been removed,” spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said.

“The government of Iraq feels the judge is no longer neutral as could be seen when he described Saddam Hussein as not being a ‘dictator’,” the spokesman said.

Judge Abdullah al-Ameri had come under fire for making a statement that Saddam was not a ‘dictator’ during a friendly exchange with the former Iraqi strongman at a hearing on Sept 14.

Mr Dabbagh added that the decision to remove Ameri was taken because there had ‘been a big uprising from the people, who feel that there is no longer any neutrality for the victims’.

He said the law that established the High Tribunal empowers the cabinet with the ‘responsibility ... to transfer any judge or prosecutor to the high judicial commission’ if they are not fulfilling their duty.

State television reported that the high tribunal trying Saddam had asked the Iraqi cabinet to replace Mr Ameri.

“The cabinet, following a request from the president of the Iraqi High Tribunal, has recommended the transfer of judge Abdullah al-Ameri to higher judicial council,” said Al-Iraqiya, citing Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s office.

Dabbagh had told reporters on Monday that Baghdad did not ‘intervene in the affairs of the high tribunal’.

“We want this court to be neutral and show the world the crimes of this dictator,” he added. “Saddam is the worst dictator Iraq has known in its long history.”—AFP