Saddam Trial Resumes

The trial of (former Iraqi leader) Saddam Hussein and seven of his former deputies will resume on February 1, 2006 among expectations that the session will be as stormy as the previous one. In the last session, newly-appointed chief justice Raouf Rasheed kicked Saddam and three other defendants out of the courtroom. Iraqis had been frustrated with former chief justice Rizgar Amin's easy-going style in dealing with defendants. The new judge did not allow Saddam and (Saddam's half brother and former intelligence chief) Barzan (Tikriti) to violate the tribunal's rules and kicked them out of the courtroom. The attorney's team left the court to protest the way the judge treated the defendants. Salih al-Armooti, the Jordanian lawyer, said defence attorneys won't return to the court unless the judge resigns.