IRAQ: IRAQIS IN BAQUBA GIVE THEIR SUPPORT FOR OUSTED LEADER SADDAM HUSSEIN WHILST OTHERS IN BAGHDAD BURN HIS EFFIGY
Record ID:
647768
IRAQ: IRAQIS IN BAQUBA GIVE THEIR SUPPORT FOR OUSTED LEADER SADDAM HUSSEIN WHILST OTHERS IN BAGHDAD BURN HIS EFFIGY
- Title: IRAQ: IRAQIS IN BAQUBA GIVE THEIR SUPPORT FOR OUSTED LEADER SADDAM HUSSEIN WHILST OTHERS IN BAGHDAD BURN HIS EFFIGY
- Date: 11th July 2004
- Summary: (U3) BAQUBA , IRAQ (JULY 11, 2004) (REUTERS-ACCESS ALL) 1. LV PRO-SADDAM IRAQI DEMONSTRATORS CARRYING PICTURES OF DEPOSED IRAQI LEADER SADDAM HUSSEIN/ MASKED GUNMAN WALKING IN FRONT OF THE DEMONSTRATION 0.16 2. LV/SV PROTESTERS CHANTING IN ARABIC 'WITH OUR BLOOD AND SOULS WE SACRIFICE OURSELVES FOR YOU SADDAM'/MASKED GUNMEN WALKING IN THE DEMONSTRATION (4 SHOTS) 0.51 3. SV/LV IRAQI DEMONSTRATORS CARRYING SADDAM PICTURES (2 SHOTS) 1.06 (U3) BAGHDAD , IRAQ (JULY 11,2004) (REUTERS-ACCESS ALL) 4. SLV TENS OF IRAQIS IN LIBERATION SQUARE IN CENTRAL BAGHDAD DEMONSTRATING AGAINST SADDAM 1.12 5. SV DEMONSTRATORS HOLDING AN EFFIGY OF SADDAM HUSSEIN AND DOING A MOCK EXECUTION (2 SHOTS) 1.26 6. SLV IRAQIS CARRYING BANNERS AROUND SADDAM EFFIGY 1.31 7. CU ONE OF THE DEMONSTRATORS CARRYING BANNER READING IN ARABIC 'DEFENDING SADDAM IS LIKE DEFENDING CRIMES AND BRUTALITY' 1.37 8. SV/SLV PEOPLE BURNING SADDAM EFFIGY (5 SHOTS) 2.07 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 26th July 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BAQUBA AND BAGHDAD, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVACCQQXZCFUTVERO49KDIZGKV9B
- Story Text: Iraqis in the restive town of Baquba give their
support for ousted leader Saddam Hussein whilst others in
Baghdad burn an effigy of him.
Hundreds of Iraqis took part in a pro-Saddam
demonstration in the Iraqi town of Baquba on Sunday (July
11) chanting "With our hearts and our souls, we redeem you
Saddam" and "with out blood and souls we sacrifice
ourselves for you Saddam".
The protest comes soon after Saddam answered questions
at his first court appearance when he was given a list of
charges against him.
Baquba, 75 km northeast of Baghdad, is in the so-called
Sunni-Triangle area that stretches to the north and west of
the country and is a bastion of anti-U.S. insurgency.
Many Iraqis want Saddam to be executed, but others wish
that he would be found not guilty.
A judge read out 7 charges to Saddam on July 1st during
a court hearing which the deposed leader described as
"theatre".
In television pictures broadcast around the world at
the start of the month Saddam looked careworn, with a
trimmed beard that had mostly turned grey.
But he had not lost his fire and at times seemed intent
on intimidating the youthful-looking judge, who declined to
give his name but said he was appointed to the bench under
Saddam.
Saddam refused to concede that the invasion of Kuwait
in 1990 was a crime, denouncing the Kuwaitis as "dogs". The
judge warned him not to use such language.
He also refused to sign a statement acknowledging that
he had been charged and read his rights. The hearing
followed the end of his prisoner of war status and his
transfer from U.S. to Iraqi legal custody on Wednesday.
Saddam and 11 of his top henchmen are to be tried under
Iraqi law, which is similar to the legal system in France.
After this first hearing, a team of five investigative
judges will prepare a case until they're ready for trial.
This may take as long as six months in Saddam's case--less
for some of the co-accused like "Chemical" Ali al-Majid,
his former Defense minister, and Saddam's two half
brothers, Barazan and Watban al-Tikriti.
Some 60 tons of incriminating documents have been
gathered by the Iraqi Special Tribunal, headed by Salem Chalabi .
Advising and assisting the tribunal is the Regime Crimes
Liaison Office, created by the Coalition authorities and
still operating under the new U.S. Embassy, which hoisted
its flag in Baghdad last week. With two dozen lawyers and
experts (mostly American) in country and 50 more on their
way, the liaison office may soon be much better staffed
than the Iraqi tribunal itself.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President
George W.Bush, whom Saddam described during the July 1st
hearing as "the real criminal", are facing international
and domestic criticism for using apparently misleading
intelligence to wage war against Iraq and eventually oust
Saddam.
Newspapers in the United Kingdom on Sunday (July 11)
said Blair's spy chief and his closest aides were likely to
bear the brunt of criticism in a report on intelligence
failings in Britain's case for invading Iraq.
Speculation about who will get the blame in the Butler
report into the use of evidence about Iraq's banned weapons
has been rife ahead of its release on Wednesday and the
intelligence community has been quick to point the finger
at Blair.
Any direct criticism of Blair could be highly damaging
on the eve of two by-elections to vote in new lawmakers and
ahead of an expected general election next year.
In a BBC television programme to be aired on Sunday,
John Morrison, former deputy chief of defence intelligence,
will say: "The prime minister was going way beyond anything
any professional analyst would have agreed" by saying
Saddam Hussein posed a serious threat.
Criticism is mounting in Iraq itself although many
Iraqis are still grateful Saddam was deposed and in the
centre of the capital city on Sunday, tens of people called
for him to be executed.
Using an effigy of Saddam they carried out a mock
execution to show the extent of their feelings against the
former president.
Under Iraqi law, Saddam could face the death penalty.
Apart from the 1990 invasion of Kuwait, the preliminary
charges against Saddam referred to the suppression of
Kurdish and Shi'ite revolts after the 1991 Gulf War, poison
gas attacks and other massacres of Kurds, the killing of
religious leaders in 1974 and the killing of political
figures over three decades.
Similar proceedings were to be held later in the day for
11 of his former aides, including former Deputy Prime
Minister Tareq Aziz and Hassan Ali al-Majid, known as
"Chemical Ali" for his alleged role in using poison gas
against Kurds and Iranians.
The U.S. military handed the 12 men over to Iraqi legal
custody but will continue to guard them.
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