Judge in Saddam’s Genocide Trial Ousted
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) – The chief judge in Saddam Hussein’s genocide trial has been replaced, Al-Iraqiya state television reported Tuesday.
The station did not say why the change was made, but the Arab satellite stations Al-Arabiya and Al-Jazeera said Judge Abdullah al-Amiri was replaced at the request of the Iraqi prime minister.
The name of the new judge was not reported. There was no immediate official confirmation that the judge had been replaced.
Prosecutors had asked for Mr. al-Amiri to be replaced after he allowed Saddam to lash out at Kurdish witnesses. And last week, Mr. al-Amiri stirred further controversy when he told the former president that “you were not a dictator.”
