Ramsey Clark
was violently removed from the courtroom in Baghdad at the Trial. He
claims it was a political stunt by the Republican party due to the
upcoming midterm elections.
Ramsey Clark and his legal team has
released a statement from inside the Green Zone in Iraq today claiming that the trial ending in execution sentences for Hussein and his compatriots was a complete 'mockery'.
"These unjust
sentences issued today by the so-called "the Iraqi High Criminal
Court", which is directed by the American occupation, have come to result
of a systematic approach of this illegal court that made its conduct, marked
with showing disrespect to principles of justice and the basic rules of
international and Iraqi laws, which resulted in grave and continued violations
to the fundamental rules of criminal proceedings where judges were vested by
the occupation from among the enemies of President Saddam and his comrades," stated the press release.
According to the lawyers, the judges continuously revealed they were un-impartial, un-independent and biased against Hussein and the others on trial. The also claimed that foreign powers were clearly involved in the decision.
"The proceedings of the
trial revealed also, that the panel chamber, which rendered the conviction, is
fully submissive to the will of the occupier and its subordinate government. Thus, the tried persons were deprived from the basic opportunity to defend themselves;
defense lawyers were assassinated, threatened, insulted, displaced out of their
country and dismissed from the courtroom."
The group claims that that defense witnesses were hunted down, arrested and
terrorized and defense
attorneys were denied access to the documents and
evidence of the files of the case, while millions of dollars were dedicated to the
Prosecution to prepare the evidence and to call prosecution witnesses. They added that the proceedings of the court turned into
a show to represent the claimants' claims and the persons who were described as prosecution witnesses.
"All of this took place amidst utter lack
of security and ceaseless threats and terror against the defense lawyers. "
They also claim the sentences were politically motivated and they
were timed to ensure maximum impact in the US midterm elections of
2006.
"It has been evident to all, that the government
authorities issued plenty of decisions and statements and adopted
measures which show that the government has prior and sure knowledge of
the
sentences before they were rendered in the courtroom," stated the
lawyers.
"This call came before the
sentences were announced by the court. This proves the correctness of
our
repeated confirmation that these sentences (the Court's decision) was
pre-made along time ago but it was announced in this strange and
abnormal
timing, in order to consolidate the electoral campaign of GeorgeW.Bush,
while all the indicators show that his party
is facing before its constituency. These difficulties are due to the
policies of hegemony which as it seems will not have
an end until he washes his hands with the
blood of the Iraqis in midday light not only by bombarding them with
all kinds
of weapons and destroying their country and throwing it amid a vicious
circle
of anarchy, civil war and division, but also by killing their leaders
and
symbols not for a reason except that they
insisted to stand up to face the American boastfulness and arrogance
and to defend the liberty, dignity and independence of the nation."
"The Defense Committee for Saddam Hussein et al. has done its utmost to
put the trial on the
right legal track from the beginning. In this regard, the Defense
Committee tried to demonstrate the
illegality and illegitimacy of he court according to
all internation treaties and conventions and also to
the provisions of the Iraqi law itself. The Defense Committee also
submitted dozens of legal requests,
statements and motions. The court
should have halted the proceedings until it considers and decides on
each one
of these requests separately in order to ensure due process by
responding to
the arguments. That has not been the case as the requests of the
defense were neglected and went unanswered. The court ended to the
extent of issuing
its sentences without considering the defense' final submissions and
without
allowing the defense lawyers to make their final oral argumentations as
provided for in criminal procedures for
all courts in the world. "
"The court
crowned its violations to the right to defense by dismissing Mr.
Ramsey Clark – the dignified American lawyer and the member
of the Defense Committee – out of the courtroom. He was moved out in a rough and insulting way after the
presiding judge of the first panel chamber openly offended, abused him and
threw Mr.Clark's written submission by moving his
hand in a way that contradicts the norms of judiciary and the morals of the
judges."
The defense also claimed the court was responsible for all the assassinated lawyers who have died since the litigation started.
"The death sentences and
the other unjust verdicts of today directly contradicts all the decisions,
resolutions and reports of several international bodies, institutions and
organizations, especially the decision (opinion) rendered by the U.N. Working
Group on Arbitrary Detention which concluded that the detention of President
Saddam Hussein is arbitrary. This
deems the proceedings as null. The
same position is echoed by many reports issued by the representative of the
U.N. on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers in addition to many other reports
and statements which were issued by various international
bodies about the void proceedings of the trial and its lacking to all
guarantees and requirements of a fair trial."
The release was signed by
Khaleel Dolimi,
Wadood Fawzi,
Ramsey Clark,
Zyad Nijdawi ,
Issam Gazawai ,
Mohammad Monieb ,
Ahmad Siddiq ,
and Javeer Savadera
To "win" may mean to achieve success in an effort or venture. A "venture" is an "undertaking" that is dangerous, daring, or of uncertain outcome; or a "business enterprise" involving some risk in expectation of gain.
Nobody seems to know what we ever were, or are, undertaking or what our business was, or is, in Iraq. I feel like we have a business enterprise that is somehow related to oil, but I am not holding my breath for old George W. Bush to admit this.
To "win" may also mean to achieve victory. But to be victorious, you have to have some kind of specific goal, and old George"s goal seems to be "stay the course" which means stay forever, though recently he has said to "be flexible". So I do not know what our goal is.
To "win" may also mean to achieve or attain by effort. I have no doubt that we are making an effort, but at what!
To "win" may also mean to "win concessions in negotiations". But here you still have to have some specifics goals which your opponent can concede to.
To "win" may also mean to reach with difficulty. I do not know what we are going to reach, but it will probably be difficult.
The question still remains whether the U.S. deserves to win in Iraq. Even if we knew what "win" was, one may still question the deserving part. I challenge anyone to list what the U.S. has done to make it worthy of winning in Iraq, or to merit winning in any way. But first, tell me what "win" is and be real specific.
I think we need to have a public ass-kicking for George W. Bush.
1
November 07, 2006
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