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New judge takes tough stance, but chaos reigns

New judge takes tough stance, but chaos reigns

BAGHDAD - Raouf Rasheed Abdel-Rahman is a career judge known for efficiency and strict adherence to the law, a native of the Kurdish town where 5,000 people died in a gas attack allegedly ordered by Saddam Hussein.

Colleagues call him sober, straight-talking and tough.

"He is a serious and honest person," said Omar Abdel-Rahman, a lawyer who worked with the judge in the 1970s. "He is a man of principles, but sometimes he gets angry quickly."

That no-nonsense style was on dramatic display Sunday as Judge Abdel-Rahman took the helm of Hussein's trial, tossing out a defense lawyer and co-defendant for shouting and other disruptions.

It was a far cry from Abdel-Rahman's predecessor as chief jurist, a fellow Kurd who addressed Hussein and his seven co-defendants with the Arabic honorific sayed - or "sir" - and tolerated the outbursts of Hussein and his more belligerent half brother, Barzan Ibrahim, who was the co-defendant removed Sunday.

In the trial's opening minutes, Abdel-Rahman told one defense lawyer, "I am speaking to you in clear and straight forward Arabic: Don't interrupt me."

Abdel-Rahman pulled no punches with Hussein either.

When Hussein told him that he "regretted" the chaos in the courtroom, Abdel-Rahman retorted, "Keep your regrets to yourself."

Ibrahim's comments were "clearly provocative and disrespectful," but Abdel-Rahman was "a little too trigger-happy," said Richard Dicker, the head of the International Justice Program at New York-based Human Rights Watch. Ibrahim had called the court "the daughter of a whore" and had to be dragged from the room.

Raid Juhi, the court's investigating judge and spokesman, said Abdel-Rahman acted within the law to maintain order. The defense team can petition to return, and "the court will look into any such request," he said.

It was the latest drama in a trial already beset by long delays, the assassination of two defense lawyers and the controversy over the change in judges.

Critics have said the turmoil gives credence to claims that Hussein cannot get a fair trial in a country torn apart by ethnic, religious and tribal divisions and an insurgency comprising large numbers of his supporters.

Michael Scharf, an international law professor who helped train judges for the trial, said Abdel-Rahman has to walk a "tightrope" between order and fairness.

"The risk is that the judge's tactics will be viewed as too heavy-handed and therefore unfair," said Scharf, head of the international law center at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

Abdel-Rahman's predecessor, Rizgar Mohammed Amin, quit this month - a decision that drew accusations of political interference.

On Sunday, Amin appeared to have no regrets.

"I am happy that I am no longer part of this trial," he said from his home in the Kurdish city of Sulaimaniyah. "I am happy to watch it on television while sitting in my house."

[Last modified January 30, 2006, 00:33:11]