Radical Arab militants have been trickling into Iraq to join the fight of Ba'athists and radical Islamists against US forces. But another,non-violent Arab contingent of volunteers has been gearing up for battle on a different front the defence of Saddam Hussein. During the past year, the committee for the defence of Mr Hussein, known by its acronym Isnad, has swelled to more than 2,500 lawyers. Some are Iraqis, led by Mr Hussein's head lawyer, Khalil al-Duleimi. But the majority come from Arab states, with Jordan providing as many as 600 of the legal experts. In Libya, the head of the support committee is Aisha, the daughter of Colonel Muammer Gadaffi. | 2,500 hostile Arabs, and they're all lawyers. Be still, my trigger finger. |
The committee claims to have the direct blessing of Mr Hussein and to have been asked to represent him by his family. His daughter Raghed acts as the main liaison with the legal team. But the committee's role appears to be largely political. Its aim is to keep alive Arab voices of protest against the US and the new Iraqi political system, despite the January elections and the formation of a new democratic government in Baghdad.
Members have assumed the trial of Mr Hussein is years away and may never be held. They were taken aback this week when the Iraqi government, desperate to send a strong message to the insurgents, suddenly announced the trial would start in two months and focus on 12 charges based on well-documented war crimes. But after several of the lawyers complained the government had not followed due process and had not even officially informed them of the charges, officials in Baghdad backed away from their claims and said no date for the trial had been fixed. "We heard about all this through the media," says Ziad al-Khasawneh, the Jordanian lawyer who heads Isnad. "The whole thing is a charade it's total chaos."
A small, burly man and longtime admirer of Mr Hussein whom he calls a "real nationalist" Mr al-Khasawneh told the FT he would not be defending the deposed leader if Mr Hussein had been ousted in an internal coup. "We're doing this because of the occupation," he says. "Iraq and Egypt are the pillars of the Arab world. When one collapses, the whole Arab nation collapses." | It's not a bug, it's a feature. |
Injecting insulting remarks about the US and the UK into his discourse, he says the committee, including the lawyers in Iraq, has never seen "a single piece of paper about his [Mr Hussein's] crimes". The lawyers have surfed the internet for details of the charges and have compiled their own files to counter every big accusation.
There have been reports of disagreements between the lawyers on the strategy for the defence of Mr Hussein, adding to the confusion over the trial. Mr Duleimi, the main lawyer in Iraq, has met his client only twice. Mr Khasawneh claims the charges are largely irrelevant. Defending Mr Hussein, he suggests, is about proving that he should not be on trial in the first place.
There was no justification for the Iraq war since no weapons of mass destruction have been found, he says, and that renders illegal all the laws enacted after the US-led invasion including the new permanent constitution that will be drafted this year. He maintains that Iraq's old constitution still applies, and so does article 40, which stipulates that the president cannot be tried without the permission of the so-called revolutionary council, the highest body in the ousted Ba'ath party.
Mr Khasawneh also cites article 58, which says the president of Iraq can essentially do what he wants to protect the nation. "This article covers everything that happened in the past," he says. "The [1990 Iraq] war against Kuwait and everything else falls under this article." His conclusion: "You simply cannot try Saddam Hussein. |