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Judge in Saddam trial stable force
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-01-16 09:05
BAGHGAD - With seemingly endless patience and disarming politeness, Rizgar
Amin has appeared to legal experts as an ideal judge to preside over the
high-profile trial of Saddam Hussein.
Presiding Judge
Rizgar Mohammed Amin is seen in this November 28, 2005 file photo during
the trial of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad.
[Reuters] | Saddam's tirades never seem to faze
Amin, who has remained even-handed despite the fact that many of his fellow
Kurds would like to see their former tormentor in Baghdad hang soon.
But
pressure from the Shi'ite-led government on Amin to get tough with Saddam may
have proved too much for a man who has gone to some lengths to show the
defendants having a fair trial.
Amin tendered his resignation last week,
telling associates he was fed up with pressure from a government eager to see a
quick hanging for the former leader. It is unclear how far the threat is a
negotiating tactic to defend the court's freedoms.
The trial is scheduled to
resume on January 24.
One trial prosecutor said Amin had complained that
his main sanction for disciplining the defendants -- barring them from the
courtroom -- was a double-edged sword that would dent public confidence in the
court if the trial played to an empty dock.
Amin has treated Saddam with
firm politeness, allowing him to speak at length in defiance of legal niceties
and winning the respect of a man whose word was law in Iraq for decades.
"Despite my opinion of this court and its legitimacy, I respect you
because I know you are a judge, and were a judge before the occupation," Saddam
told Amin during one session.
Amin has patiently listened to outbursts
from Saddam and his co-defendants and also let witnesses tell of their
sufferings for hours, rarely questioning the relevance of their testimony.
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