Lynching Saddam

On June 12, 2006 after reporting:

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- An American lawyer on Saddam Hussein's defense team lashed out at the court Monday, saying it was not giving defenders enough time and was intimidating witnesses. Curtis Doebbler chided the chief judge for not responding to a series of defense motions, including ones challenging the court's legitimacy and seeking documents. He asked for a break in the proceedings until those issues were resolved.

"We are at a serious disadvantage to the prosecution because of the way we have been treated by the court," Doebbler told chief judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman. "We want to work for justice. But that must start by having a fair trial.

"But under the current circumstances, that doesn't seem possible. We ask that the trial be stopped to allow us adequate time to prepare our defense."

He pointed out that the prosecution took more than five months to present its case, while the court is rushing the defense, which began its arguments in April. Abdel-Rahman has repeatedly demanded the defense present full lists of witnesses.

"Our witnesses have been intimidated by the court and have been assaulted," Doebbler said. "Several lawyers were assaulted as well."

the Associated Press concluded:

“The perceived fairness of the trial is a crucial issue, since U.S. and Iraqi officials have hoped that showing justice toward Saddam will help heal the deep Shiite-Sunni divisions that have exploded since his regime's fall.”

Today, June 21, 2006, the BBC reports:

Saddam defence lawyer shot dead

One of the main lawyers defending former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein at his trial has been shot dead.

Khamis al-Obeidi's body was found dumped in the capital, Baghdad, hours after he was abducted from his home.

Defence lawyers have frequently complained that they have not been given enough protection, calling the trial's fairness into question.

Two other defence lawyers were murdered last year in the early stages of the trial, which is set to end next month.

Do the United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, the European Union, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the “liberal media” (among others) have anything to say about this peculiar form of “justice”?

Or should we assume that in the New World Order we have accepted the pre-emptive concept of justice: lynching!

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Read also:

- Lynching Saddam – Part 2: Juan Cole’s informed comment

- Lynching Saddam – Part 3: Stop that "trial" now!

- Lynching Saddam – Part 4: the NYT enjoys that bloody show!

- Lynchng Saddam – Part 5: United Nations and Saddam’s Lawyers’ call

- Lynching Saddam – Part 6: The More You Watch the Less You Know

- Lynching Saddam – Part 7: the Myth of Human Rights

- Lynching Saddam – Part 8: “just after the court ruling”