Prosecutors Grill Saddam-Era Judge

(CBS/AP)  The former judge who sentenced 148 Shiites to death in the 1980s denied rushing to judgment, saying the suspects confessed in a 16-day trial and insisting there were no teenagers among them, as prosecutors questioned him on a crucial point in the case against Saddam Hussein.

But Awad al-Bandar acknowledged the 148 had only one defense lawyer, appointed by his Revolutionary Court in the 1984 trial.

Wearing a red checkered traditional headdress, al-Bandar was alone in the defendants' pen, often appearing nervous and agitated as chief judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman and prosecutors questioned him.

Al-Bandar, one of seven co-defendants in the trial of Saddam and members of his regime, was cross-examined last month, but he was called back for both the defense and prosecution to present new documents.

Saddam was not present during Thursday's two-hour session, after which the court was adjourned until April 12. On Wednesday, the former president was cross-examined by prosecutors for six hours for the first time in the six-month-old trial.

Prosecutors are seeking to show that al-Bandar's Revolutionary Court gave the 148 Shiites only a cursory trial on charges they tried to assassinate Saddam in the town of Dujail in 1982, and that Saddam approved their death sentences even though many had nothing to do with the shooting attack on him.

Saddam and the other defendants could face execution by hanging if convicted. Prosecutors are believed to be finished presenting their evidence, and in upcoming sessions perhaps next month the defense will take its turn.

A U.S. official close to the tribunal said its judges could deliver a verdict and sentence in June or July. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak for the Iraqi court.

In other developments:

A car bomb exploded Thursday in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, killing at least 10 people and injuring about 30 nearly 300 yards from the Imam Ali Shrine, a police chief said. The shrine is among the world's most sacred sites for Shiite Muslims and contains the tomb of the Prophet Muhammad's son-in-law, Imam Ali.

Roadside bombs elsewhere targeted police and army patrols Thursday in Baghdad and Baqouba, killing at least two and wounded 18, including civilians.

The U.S. military announced the arrest of Mohammed Hila Hamma Obeidi, a top insurgent leader believed to have been responsible for last year's kidnapping of Italian journalist Guiliana Sgrena last month.
Obeidi was an aide to the chief of staff of intelligence under Saddam Hussein and allegedly commanded the Secret Islamic Army in Babil province south of Baghdad.

An extremist group posted an Internet video Wednesday that it said showed a U.S. pilot being dragged along the ground, burning, after the crash of his Apache helicopter. It was not clear whether the man being dragged was wearing a U.S. uniform. A closeup showed the word "Hanes" on his underwear. A U.S. military spokesman would not confirm the authenticity of the video, but said the U.S. was "outraged" at its presentation.

Iraqi prosecutors, citing a lack of evidence, have withdrawn their case against an Iraqi cameraman who had been expected to go on trial Wednesday. Abdul Ameer Younis Hussein was working for CBS News when he was detained.

Al-Bandar said his court carried out a 16-days trial, working from nine a.m. to midnight.

"I was keen to carry out justice and I hoped that the defendants would be found not guilty," he said, though he acknowledged that no one in the Dujail case was acquitted.

He said they all confessed to trying to assassinate Saddam "with instructions from the government of Iran to overthrow the regime in Iraq."

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