Judge bails out of Saddam trial

2006-01-16 21:37

Baghdad - The trial of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein will resume next week without chief judge Rizkar Mohammed Amin who has handed in his resignation, says an official on Monday.

The official said: "Rizkar will certainly not be present at the hearing on January 24," when the trial resumes.

"His replacement has yet to be appointed, but it could be Saeed al-Hameesh", the only other judge on the panel of five to have been publicly identified to date.

He said: "It will be up to the head of the Iraq high tribunal to make the appointment."

An official close to Amin said that he tendered his resignation more than five days ago because of strong criticism of his way of running the court.

Personal reasons

However, the tribunal said on Sunday that he resigned "for personal reasons, and not because of government pressure".

It was now up to the government to decide whether to accept his resignation, but it was still not known whether it would do so.

Amin had been under pressure for allowing what critics saw as theatrics by the defence counsels and by the accused since the trial started on October 19.

His supporters said the judge had sought to give the defendants, who faced a possible death penalty, as much leeway as possible in a bid to ensure the process was seen as fair.

Saddam and seven co-accused were on trial for ordering the massacre of more than 140 Shi'ites from the town of Dujail after a 1982 assassination attempt on the former Iraqi leader.

- AFP