New report links Saddam to Shiite killings
(AP)
Updated: 2006-04-24 19:59
On Monday the prosecution also played a CD of a conversation between Saddam
and his former vice president Taha Yassin Ramadan in which the two men
reportedly discussed the retaliatory destruction of farms and orchards belonging
to Dujail villagers.
Saddam's half-brother and feared former secret police chief Barzan Ibrahim
Hassan al-Tikriti dismissed the latest handwriting findings.
"Even if you bring 50 handwriting experts, they all will say the same thing,"
said Barzan, who has launched repeated tirades against the prosecution and the
court during the trial.
"We know that the decision against us has already been taken as this court is
politically driven."
In the previous April 19 hearing, chief judge Rauf Abdel Rahman ruled after
seeing a report by handwriting experts that signatures linking the ousted Iraqi
leader to the massacre of the Shiites were "authentic".
"The experts verified these documents, and the signatures of Saddam Hussein
were found to be authentic," Abdel Rahman said.
Saddam has dismissed the evidence, insisting the documents were forged, and
claimed the witnesses testifying against him have been bribed by the
prosecution.
In earlier hearings, Saddam acknowledged he had ordered the trial of Dujail
villagers suspected of plotting to assassinate him, but stopped short of
admitting he was responsible for their executions.
His lawyers have contested the earlier handwriting report, demanding that a
neutral body make a judgment on the authenticity of the signatures.
The documents presented by the prosecution came from the
Revolutionary Command Council, the former regime's highest decision-making body.
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