Human rights group wants Saddam verdict overturned By Diane Sweet

[Demeter]

OpEdNews.com

Original Content at http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_diane_sw_061130_human_rights_group_w.htm


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
December 1, 2006

Human rights group wants Saddam verdict overturned

By Diane Sweet

A human rights group is calling for the conviction of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein to be reversed, RAW STORY has learned.

Citing many procedural and substantive flaws, the advocacy group Human Rights Watch declared in a 97-page report released Sunday that the trial of Saddam Hussein was unfair and that the court should overturn the guilty verdict.

"The proceedings in the Dujail trial were fundamentally unfair," said Nehal Bhuta of the International Justice program at Human Rights Watch and author of the report. "The tribunal squandered an important opportunity to deliver credible justice to the people of Iraq. And its imposition of the death penalty after an unfair trial is indefensible."

The report, "Judging Dujail: The First Trial Before the Iraqi High Tribunal" – which is based on 10 months of observation and dozens of interviews with judges, prosecutors, and defense lawyers and is the most comprehensive analysis to date of the trial – details its allegedly serious flaws:

• Regular failure to disclose key evidence, including exculpatory evidence, to the defense in advance

• Violations of the defendants' basic fair trial right to confront witnesses against them

• Lapses of judicial demeanor that undermined the apparent impartiality of the presiding judge

• Important gaps in evidence that undermine the persuasiveness of the prosecution case and put in doubt whether all the elements of the crimes charged were established.....

originally published in RawStory.com



Authors Bio: Editorial Assistant @RawStory.com


Back