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Witness at Saddam trial tells of abuse
(AP)
Updated: 2005-12-06 21:04
The measures taken to preserve the woman's anonymity complicated the
testimony. At first, defense attorneys complained they could not hear her
because of the voice distortion. Chief Judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin ordered the
voice modulator shut off, but then the audience could not hear at all, so Amin
ordered a recess, and the modulator was fixed, allowing the press and audience
to hear.
Defense attorneys insisted on questioning the witness face to face and
demanded that the defendants should also see her. So after she gave her
testimony for over an hour, Amin ordered the session closed to the public,
pulling screens in front of the press and visitors gallery and cutting the
sound.
Amin said that defense attorneys would be told the identity of the witness
but they must not pass the information to anyone outside the tribunal.
A second female, Witness B, then took the stand. After the 74-year-old began
her testimony, the judge decided the voice modulator wasn't working properly and
ordered it turned off and all of the electronic feeds from the courtroom cut,
including to the press gallery.
Witnesses have the option of not having their identities revealed as a
security measure to protect them against reprisals by Saddam loyalists. The
first two witnesses ¡ª both males who took the stand Monday ¡ª allowed their names
to be announced and their pictures shown.
Saddam and seven co-defendants are on trial for the killing of more than 140
Shiites in the town of Dujail north of Baghdad and could be executed by hanging
if convicted. Monday's session was a stormy one, as Saddam repeatedly stood to
challenge the judge and witnesses.
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