Ex-Iraqi judge defends sentencing 148 to death

BAGHDAD, Iraq — A former judge for Saddam Hussein's revolutionary court took the stand at the Iraqi tribunal Thursday and insisted the death sentences he imposed on 148 Shiite Muslims in 1982 were lawful.

Awad Bandar defended his decision to condemn the accused residents of Dujail to death, saying they were found guilty of joining a banned political party and conspiring with Iran during Iraq's war with the neighboring nation.

Saddam, who offered a spirited defense Wednesday, did not attend the hearing Thursday in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone.

Saddam and seven co-defendants are being tried by a special tribunal for crimes against humanity for the executions of 148 Dujail residents. Prosecutors allege Saddam ordered a retaliatory massacre of villagers after a failed attempt on his life during a 1982 visit.

On Tuesday, investigators for the tribunal filed new genocide charges against Saddam and six former aides for their alleged involvement in the Anfal campaign, eight attacks against Kurdish villages in 1988 that included the use of chemical weapons and killed tens of thousands of Kurds in northern Iraq.

Bandar cast himself as a dutiful judge who had no choice according to the law but to hand down the 1982 death sentences in the Dujail case.

"They tried to carry out a coup," Bandar said of the accused Shiites. "This was first announced in the Iranian media, and they all confessed of having allied with Iran."

At another point, he insisted his panel "was a legal and just court."

Bander, however, acknowledged that membership in the then-outlawed Dawa Party, now a leading political power within the Iraqi government, was punishable by death.

Bandar argued that the Dujail residents he condemned received a full trial and appeals process within 16 days, the time between their arrest and executions. He insisted he worked 9 a.m. to midnight each day on the case. However, he noted all 148 defendants were represented by a single attorney appointed by his court.

Responding to pictures of young prisoners executed in 1982 that have been shown on global broadcasts of the trial, Bandar said the court used medical personnel to certify all the accused were adults. When prosecutor Jafar Moussawi presented identity documents of one 15-year-old who was executed, Bandar said the documents were fakes, intended to allow Dujail residents to avoid mandatory military service.

"Why would I sentence any minor, I have no dispute with them," Bandar said.

Bandar attempted to distance himself from culpability by testifying he was simply carrying out laws under Saddam's Baathist party regime. He also insisted the intelligence services were directly responsible for the executions, since they had handed over to his court damning evidence on the Dujail residents.

"I didn't make the law," he said.

Los Angeles Times reporter Ali Windawi contributed to this report.