Marcellus
01-15-2006, 04:10
The chief judge in the trial of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has tendered his resignation, reports say.
A source involved in the tribunal told the BBC he is disappointed by public reaction to his running of the trial.
Judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin has been accused by Iraqi and US politicians of being too lenient on Saddam Hussein during hearings at his murder trial.
The source said his resignation has not yet been accepted and colleagues are trying to persuade him to reconsider.
Judge Rizgar has been remarkably lenient to Saddam Hussein and his half-brother, Barzan al-Tikriti, and they have taken advantage of this, our correspondent says.
However, he says that this does not mean that the senior judge has lost control of his court.
Judge Rizgar is a polite, highly intelligent man, who wants the world to see that he dispenses a very different kind of justice from Saddam's own courts, our correspondent says.
And it is a tactic that works, he adds - at the start of the trial, Saddam Hussein refused even to give his name. Yet by force of sheer politeness, Judge Rizgar has worn him down.
His resignation must be approved by both the prime minister's counsel and the president and vice-presidents. The trial is due to resume on 24 January.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4613098.stm
If he does resign, my (not particlarly well informed) opinion is that it would be very unfortunate. From the small amount of footage I saw of him, he seemed like a fair judge, which I think is needed to really show people that things are different from the regime of the defendent. And as the article points out, this tactic seems to have worked to an extent.
A source involved in the tribunal told the BBC he is disappointed by public reaction to his running of the trial.
Judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin has been accused by Iraqi and US politicians of being too lenient on Saddam Hussein during hearings at his murder trial.
The source said his resignation has not yet been accepted and colleagues are trying to persuade him to reconsider.
Judge Rizgar has been remarkably lenient to Saddam Hussein and his half-brother, Barzan al-Tikriti, and they have taken advantage of this, our correspondent says.
However, he says that this does not mean that the senior judge has lost control of his court.
Judge Rizgar is a polite, highly intelligent man, who wants the world to see that he dispenses a very different kind of justice from Saddam's own courts, our correspondent says.
And it is a tactic that works, he adds - at the start of the trial, Saddam Hussein refused even to give his name. Yet by force of sheer politeness, Judge Rizgar has worn him down.
His resignation must be approved by both the prime minister's counsel and the president and vice-presidents. The trial is due to resume on 24 January.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4613098.stm
If he does resign, my (not particlarly well informed) opinion is that it would be very unfortunate. From the small amount of footage I saw of him, he seemed like a fair judge, which I think is needed to really show people that things are different from the regime of the defendent. And as the article points out, this tactic seems to have worked to an extent.