Saddam supporters take a stand

2004-07-02 13:13

Samarra, Iraq - Hundreds of Saddam Hussein supporters demonstrated peacefully in this restive city north of Baghdad on Friday, denouncing the deposed dictator's appearance the previous day before an Iraqi judge.

The protestors flooded onto the Sunni Muslim bastion of Samarra, 125km north of the Iraqi capital, brandishing portraits of their fallen leader, a correspondent reported.

Men, women and children shouted: "All Iraq knows that Saddam is the glory of the nation."

"Our blood, our soul, we will defend Saddam," they chanted.

One demonstrator Mohammed Jassem lashed out at the spectacle of Saddam taken to court on Thursday where preliminary charges were read against him by an Iraqi special tribunal judge.

"The trial has been ridiculous. Those who judge the president and those who govern are named by the coalition forces. This is why they do not have the right to judge president Saddam Hussein, who is the one who has legitimacy in the country."

"We are all pro-Saddam. He continues to be our president," the protestors chanted.

Samarra falls within the so-called Sunni triangle, where there has been a persistent bedrock of support for the former dictator.

Many Sunnis fear living under the rule of Iraq's Shiite Muslims who make up at least 60% of Iraq's population.

The country's Sunni population, who make up no more than 20% of the population, ruled the modern state of Iraq for most of its 83-year history until Saddam was toppled last year.

- AFP