&#145;Shut up,&#146; Saddam

last updated 8 January 2015

Baghdad

The new judge presiding in Saddam Hussein’s genocide trial has little tolerance for the former dictator’s outbursts. Judge Mohammad al-Oreibi, who was appointed after prosecutors complained that the previous judge was biased toward the defendants, kicked Saddam out of court three times in as many days. Saddam was booted out after just two hours of proceedings one day this week because he loudly complained about the metal pen in which he and other defendants sit. On another occasion, Saddam disputed a judicial call, saying, “Is this the justice that you rule people with? Let this kind of justice be damned.” The judge responded, “Shut up,” and ejected him. Saddam has a new team of court-appointed lawyers, because his old defense team is boycotting the trial to protest the appointment of Judge al-Oreibi. Saddam and six others are on trial for a campaign that killed tens of thousands of Kurds in the 1980s.