| Not a clean trial, but not a show trial either. |
A three-judge panel on Monday found Hakim al-Zamili, a former deputy health minister, and Brigadier General Hamid al-Shammari, who headed the ministryÂ’s security forces, not guilty of kidnapping, murder and corruption charges.
“The judgement was delivered by Central Criminal Court of Iraq which is an independent court,” spokesman Judge Abdul Sattar Gafoor said. “It issued the verdict to free the two men.”
US embassy spokesman Philip Reeker also confirmed the acquittal of the two officials, while noting “serious allegations of witness intimidation and other irregularities” during the two-day trial. “We understand an Iraqi court has found two former ministry of health officials not guilty of kidnapping, murder, and corruption charges,” he said.
Following the trial in the Central Criminal Court, the panel ”cited a lack of direct evidence as the ground for its decision to acquit” the officials, Reeker said. “There remain serious allegations of witness intimidation and other irregularities in this case that have not yet been fully or transparently resolved within the Iraqi system,” Reeker said.
Zamili and Shammari were charged with five counts of murder and another five separate counts of kidnapping. Their trial was marred by the absence of several prosecution witnesses who failed to show up after reportedly receiving death threats. The two were alleged to have formed a private Shia militia that would storm into Baghdad hospitals and snatch wounded and sick Sunni Arabs from their beds, issue death threats to doctors and gun down family members visiting patients.
Reeker said “many parts of the trial process appeared credible to outside observers and several participants in the investigation, and the trial demonstrated noteworthy determination and courage that the charges be fairly heard.
“The very fact that the charges were investigated and brought to trial reflects modest progress toward the rule of law,” he said.
The trial was seen as a test of the commitment by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, head of a Shia-led government, to crack down on Sunni and Shia extremists alike. Zamili and Shammari were arrested early last year but there had been doubt they would be brought to trial.