No more defence witnesses: Saddam judge

The chief judge declared an end to the hearing of defence witnesses in the trial of Saddam Hussein on Tuesday and said the prosecution will present its closing argument next week.

The chief judge declared an end to the hearing of defence witnesses in the trial of Saddam Hussein on Tuesday and said the prosecution will present its closing argument next week.

The declaration came despite complaints by the defence team that it has had the freedom to properly present its case and that many of its motions were not ruled on by chief judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman.

The surprise announcement came a day after a stormy trial session in which defence lawyers said they were not being given enough time to prepare the case and repeated claims of difficulties in summoning witnesses.

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Abdel-Rahman barred one co-defendant, former intelligence chief Barzan Ibrahim, from attending on Tuesday’s session after throwing him out of the court the day before for arguing with him.

Abdel-Rahman angrily closed the court to the public for several hours after accusing a defence lawyer of trying to prompt a witness—Saddam’s half-brother and former adviser Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan—to make political speeches. Later, he allowed journalists back into the chamber and resumed a video broadcast of the session.

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