Former Iraqi Minister Says U.S. Forced People To Testify Against Saddam

Former Iraqi minister says US forced testimony against Saddam

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/m...er_1167903.php

(Gold9472: Why is it so hard to find witnesses to testify against the monster Saddam Hussein? Shouldn't they be lining up for the opportunity?)

By DPA
May 29, 2006, 19:00 GMT

Baghdad - The Iraqi High Court reconvened Monday to hear the testimonies of defence witnesses in the trial against ousted dictator Saddam Hussein as a former Iraqi interior minister claimed the invading US army forced people to testify against Saddam.

\'US forces had applied pressure on us to testify against President Saddam Hussein,\' Mohammad Zaman Abdel Razeq Saadoun told the court.

Saddam and seven of his associates are accused of killing 148 people in the village of Dujail as revenge for an assassination attempt on Saddam by Dujail residents in the summer of 1982.

Saadoun said that compensation was provided to all of Dujail\'s residents who had also had their agricultural lands dug up and destroyed in the revenge attack.

Saadoun also spoke of recent assassination attempts on former Baath Party leaders. He claimed that Iran was behind the attempted assassination of former Iraqi vice president Ezzat Ibrahim al-Duri in Karbala.

The former minister added that his 5-year-old grandson and one of his other grandsons in secondary school were abducted and arrested to force him into handing himself in.

The court, presided over by Judge Rauf Rasheed Abdel Rahman, heard the testimonies of three defence witnesses. The two others chose to remain anonymous and spoke from behind a curtained chamber.

Another defence witness, Khaled Matar, testified in support of Awwad Hamad al-Bandar, the head of the Iraqi Revolutionary Court who issued the execution verdicts against the 148 villagers.

Prosecution team head Jaafar al-Mussawi said the defence testimonies would be heard for several more days as the defence team had submitted a list of 127 witnesses in support of Saddam and his co-defendants.

The trial, which started on October 19, 2005 has heard the testimonies of several chief Baath Party leaders, as well prosecution witnesses from Dujail, who reported that they had been tortured by members of the Baath regime in detention centres including Abu Ghraib.

The court is to reconvene on Tuesday and Wednesday.