Relatives of Saddam trial judge shot
Pastor Dale Morgan
Friday September 29, 10:00 PM Reuters
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Relatives of Saddam trial judge shot*
By Alastair Macdonald and Ahmed Rasheed
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Gunmen killed a brother-in-law of the new judge
trying Saddam Hussein and badly wounded the man's wife and son, in what
the Iraqi government said on Friday was a direct attack on the court by
Saddam's followers.
The government spokesman said judge Mohammed al-Ureybi's 10 -year-old
nephew and his sister were in a critical condition after the family was
sprayed with bullets on Thursday evening.
It was at least the fourth killing closely connected to the
U.S.-sponsored court, following those of three defence lawyers, and will
raise new questions about its ability to conduct fair trials in a nation
on the verge of sectarian civil war.
"This was purposely and intentionally from groups which are connected to
Saddam," spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told Reuters, adding that he expected
Ureybi nonetheless to continue presiding over the genocide trial which
he took over last week.
Police said the family were driving off from their home along with a
truck laden with possessions when they were ambushed. They had decided
to flee the mostly Sunni Ghazaliya district of west Baghdad after
Ureybi, a Shi'ite lawyer, was appointed following the government's
sacking of his predecessor.
Day-long television coverage of the trial, in which Ureybi has ordered
Saddam from court at each of the three sessions he has chaired so far,
has made the judge a national celebrity.
Court officials were not immediately available for comment.
Iraqi lawyers said the attack on his relatives would be grounds for the
tribunal to question Ureybi's ability to be impartial and ask him to
step down. But a source close to the court said he expected officials to
confirm Ureybi in his post.
SECTARIAN VIOLENCE
He was appointed after the government sacked his predecessor for telling
Saddam the former president was "not a dictator".
In all, he is the fourth chief judge to try Saddam, since the first
judge in an earlier trial quit nine months ago over what he called
interference from the Shi'ite-led government.
The trial for genocide against ethnic Kurds in 1988 is in recess until
October 9. A verdict in the earlier trial, for crimes against humanity
concerning Shi'ites, is due next month.
The majority Shi'ite community now dominant in Iraq after years of
oppression under Saddam's mostly Sunni rule. Defence lawyers, who have
boycotted the genocide trial since Ureybi took over, have accused
Shi'ite militias of killing their three Sunni colleagues and on Thursday
again branded the process a "farce".
As Ureybi's relatives left their home in their car, followed by a pickup
truck full of furniture and other possessions, gunmen in a car opened
fire, killing Kadhem Abdul Hussein and hitting his wife and his son
Karrar, a police source said.
Tribunal judges, like leading Iraqi politicians, live under tight
security. Militants have frequently targeted the relatives of prominent
figures, seeking easier targets because the family members enjoy
considerably less -- if any -- protection.
Ureybi, originally from the southern city of Amara but trained in
Baghdad, was little known among leading lawyers before appearing at the
head of the five-man bench nine days ago, a day after Abdullah al-Amiri
was fired by the government.
Saddam, 69, faces hanging if convicted but no execution can take place
until after an appeals process that could take years.
In other violence, police said two officers were killed on Friday in
clashes in Baghdad's violent, southern Dora district, gunmen killed
three Iraqi soldiers near the northern oil city of Kirkuk and one man
was killed by a bomb in central Baghdad.
A Sunni tribal leader was killed by gunmen, also in Dora. Some tribal
sheikhs have become targets for al Qaeda, especially following a deal
this week by tribes in western Anbar province to attack Sunni Islamist
militants alongside government forces.
The Iraqi military said it captured 60 suspected Sunni insurgents in a
bloodless start to what it called a joint Iraqi and U.S. operation to
flush militants out of the violent province of Diyala, around Baquba,
northeast of Baghdad.
Among those arrested was a Sunni tribal leader and former brigadier in
Saddam's army who is accused of organising the "ethnic cleansing" of
Shi'ites from the town of Khan Bani Sad.
U.S. commanders describe Diyala as the "perfect storm" because of a mix
of Sunni, Shi'ite and Kurdish communities.
(Additional reporting by Shahla Azzawi)