International Law
Iraq Prime Minister Said to Oust Judge to Ensure Saddam Death Sentence
Posted Sep 25, 2008, 11:33 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
Fearing that Saddam Hussein would not receive a death sentence at his trial, Iraq’s prime minister forced one of five judges presiding in his case to resign only days before sentencing, a Canadian lawyer told the New York Times.
According to the lawyer’s version of events, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki forced the judge, Munthur Hadi, off the panel in 2006. The replacement judge had heard none of the evidence in the trial, but he had ties to Maliki’s Dawa religious party and was willing to vote for hanging.
A Maliki spokesman denied the report.
The lawyer making the accusation is William Wiley, who worked for a U.S. agency that counseled the Iraqi High Tribunal called the Regime Crimes Liaison Office. “The prime minister’s office was perpetually banging on the door, until they finally got control of the whole process,” Wiley told the Times.
Two other lawyers who asked for anonymity confirmed Wiley’s account, the newspaper says.
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