Saddam: Where Is The Crime?
Former Iraqi Leader Admits Ordering Trial Of 148 Shiites
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Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein speaks at his trial in Baghdad on Wednesday, March 1, 2006. (AP Photo/Bob Strong)
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"Where is the crime? Where is the crime?" Saddam asked, standing before the panel of five judges.
"If trying a suspect accused of shooting at a head of state, no matter what his name is, is considered a crime, then you have the head of state in your hands. Try him," Saddam said, arguing that his co-defendants should be released because he was the one in charge.
His dramatic courtroom speech came a day after prosecutors in his trial presented a presidential decree with a signature they said was Saddam's approving death sentences for the 148 Shiites, their most direct evidence against him so far in the four-month trial.
Saddam did not admit to signing the approval in his comments.
Saddam and seven co-defendants are on trial for the executions of 148 Shiites, as well as the arrest and torture of others and the confiscation and razing of their farmlands, following an attempt to kill Saddam in the town of Dujail on July 8, 1982.
The prosecution has argued that the crackdown that followed the assassination attempt went far beyond the actual attackers, presenting documents that show entire families were arrested, tortured and held for years, including women and children as young as 3 months old.
In other developments:
The 148 people eventually sentenced to death in the case included at least 10 juveniles, including an 11-year-old, according to the documents. The death sentences came after what the prosecution called an "imaginary trial" before Saddam's Revolutionary Court.
©MMVI CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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