Sunday, 25 December, 2005


THE ongoing trial of Saddam Hussain has no legal grounds for several reasons, according to Dr Najuib al-Nuaimi former Qatari minister of justice and a member of the panel of lawyers defending the ousted Iraqi president.

"The purpose of any law whether it be local or international is to seek truth and justice. Lawyers from time immemorial have sought to establish justice within a contextual framework and codify it as a set of laws and make it obligatory on all concerned. But justice is not always bound by law and it can in some instances get derailed if there is a pre-determined effort to prove that somebody is a culprit while another is a victim of injustice," al-Nuaimi said.

He was delivering a talk on 'The legality of the trial of Saddam Hussain’ at the law club in the faculty of law at Qatar University recently.

He said: "Iraq is a country under occupation. It has been occupied by the United States of America and its allies on the strength of a political principle and not on the strength of any law. Nations conquer other nations for booty or for expansion of their territory. But in the case of Iraq, it is a different kettle of fish.

"The UN Security Council resolution (1441) tried to provide a legal camouflage to the invasion of Iraq. Soon after the invasion, the tribal leaders of Iraq were shocked to learn that their country is under occupation. The impression they had prior to the occupation was that a ruler will be appointed from among them.

"The occupation forces appointed an official known as the head of the coalition authority. But he was sacked within two weeks because he was giving out statements that were not in line with the official policy of the Bush administration. Then came Paul Bremer whose main concern was to set up a local government that will owe allegiance to the coalition authority as was the case in Japan and Germany soon after the Second World War. This plan did not work in Iraq because of the difference in the social fabric of the Iraqi people. The second main concern for Bremer was the trial of Saddam Hussain.

"Saddam Hussain was captured on December 13, 2003 while the other leaders of his regime were captured much earlier. His arrest was held as a strictly guarded secret until the summer of 2004. It took two years for the Americans to decide on the modality of Saddam’s trial. They spent millions from the Iraqi exchequer to seek the help of top legal experts including Arab, American, German and British legal luminaries. As a result of this exercise Bremer issued Law No.1 providing the legal framework for constituting a court and filing of charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

"Bremer was advised that the coalition authority as a foreign occupying force cannot implement the law. It can be only through an indigenous body. But again this body cannot have a legal standing since it is appointed by the coalition authority. It will also be in violation of the constitution which is still in the making.

"In order to get out of this hurdle, a third stage of procedure emerged: a provisional government was formed along with a general assembly of the people. A formal written request was submitted by the coalition authority to the provisional government to endorse the law formulated by Bremer and which was re-issued by the local body as Law No 10. But Iraqi President Jalal Talabani refused to endorse it. He was playing a political game with the opposition.

"The ongoing trial is based on the American pattern of litigation and each and every step of action is American inspired. It has no legal grounds for several reasons including that it is in contradiction to Articles 54 and 64 of the Fourth Geneva Convention which stipulate that public servants should not be removed from their positions. The Americans have removed all the functionaries including judges and attorneys of the erstwhile Iraqi government. The laws of the land that were in force should not have been abrogated.

"We as Arabs and persons concerned with legal affairs should not be cowed down by such high-handed measures of the Americans. A day will come when America will fall on evil days and its glory will be lost forever. Truth will emerge and then we will realise the falsehood of all that is going on. We have seen this happen when the great Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) collapsed and faded into oblivion."