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Third judge appointed after delay { January 24 2006 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2006/01/24/as_a_third_judge_takes_the_helm_hussein_lawyers_seek_trial_delay/http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2006/01/24/as_a_third_judge_takes_the_helm_hussein_lawyers_seek_trial_delay/
As a third judge takes the helm, Hussein lawyers seek trial delay
By Richard Boudreaux, Los Angeles Times | January 24, 2006
BAGHDAD -- Saddam Hussein's trial was set to resume under a new chief judge today after the first presiding judge resigned and his initial replacement was accused of having belonged to the deposed dictator's Ba'ath Party.
One of Hussein's lawyers said the defense team would use the turnover in the trial panel's leadership to accuse Iraqi and US officials of interference and to seek a new delay of the proceedings, which have been in recess for the past month.
The Iraqi High Tribunal yesterday named Raouf Rasheed Abdel Rahman, a 64-year-old Kurd, to take temporary charge of the five-judge panel. The decision was announced after Judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin, the tribunal's original judge, resisted several appeals by his colleagues and Iraqi leaders to return to the courtroom.
''Everybody is trying to influence my decision, but it is final," Amin told Reuters news agency yesterday.
The chief judge resigned Jan. 9, complaining of government pressure to speed the trial and clamp down on lengthy outbursts by Hussein and some of the seven other defendants.
Amin's deputy on the trial panel, Said Hammashi, was chosen by fellow panel members to take over. The tribunal backed down, however, after a government commission set up to purge former Ba'ath Party members from public office objected.
Hammashi denied the commission's accusation, made in a letter to the court last week, that he had been a party member. Officials first brushed off the letter, saying laws barring former Ba'athists from government positions did not apply to the tribunal.
But Jafar Moussawi, the tribunal's chief prosecutor, said the court decided to pass over Hammashi to avoid further controversy.
Rahman has been serving in a different chamber of the tribunal. His appointment to lead the trial is temporary because Amin's resignation has not yet been formally accepted.
Since the start of the proceedings last October, defense lawyers have challenged the legitimacy of the tribunal, which they call a tool of the US forces that ousted Hussein in April 2003.
Khamis Ubaidi, one of Hussein's lawyers, said last night that the defense will use the conflict over the trial panel's leadership to seek a postponement.
© Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.
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