In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

“And if you rule, do so with fairness.”

Case n° 1/9 First/2005

Al-Dujail Lawsuit

(Case)

Introduction

Introduction to the Judgment Decision

The Legal Context

Final Outcome

Note: Page format is in U.S. letter. Due to variations in length per page between English and Arabic, the page numbering in this document does not match that of the Arabic original.

Translated by MIZNA MANAGEMENT LLC .9128 .320877| net .mizna@infocomments can be sent to & questions | net .mizna.wwwIntroduction

Prior to considering the great quantity of papers and documents submitted before the tribunal (in a disorderly manner), and since any penalty imposed on any of the defendants should be based on established and proven evidence, this tribunal shall take into consideration the appropriate extent of freedom of action and choice (open to the tribunal) that will allow it to make decisions (judgments), within the context of maintaining a balance between administrating justice and protecting basic human rights, which forms an important and complimentary aspect of the stages of this case.

The trial chamber has analyzed the range of legal penalties set out in the law in comparison with the eligibility (admissibility) of the evidence submitted before the tribunal.

There is no doubt that, according to paragraph one of article (24) of the Iraqi High Tribunal law number (10) for the year 2005 and the rules of procedure and of collecting evidence annexed to the said law; and according to the law of criminal procedure number (23) for the year 1971, that the penalties on the basis of which this tribunal shall make its judgments are the penalties stipulated in criminal law number (111) for the year 1969;

And whereas this court also takes into consideration the decision of the transitional coalition government number (7) for the year 2005, section three thereof, which stipulates suspending the death penalty in each instance where it is the only penalty stipulated for penalizing the perpetrator of a (certain) crime, then the court will have the right to substitute it with sentencing the defendant to life imprisonment or imposing another penalty based on the stipulations of the penal code;

And whereas the basis of the work of the transitional coalition government, in its capacity as an interim government in Iraq (set up) for the purpose of achieving full sovereignty according to article (43) of the Hague Laws of 1907, whereby regulatory bill n° (1) of the transitional coalition government shall be the regulatory basis for the period that will follow the previous interim government;

And according to the second part of the said regulatory bill, the laws that were applicable in Iraq as on April 16, 2003 shall remain effective and applicable after that date unless the transitional coalition government decides to suspend, substitute or cancel the said laws and promulgate new legislation to replace them via the democratic institutions of Iraq;

Judge Raouf Rashid AbdulRahman (seal & signature)

Seal of the Iraqi High Court

The said laws shall remain in effect and applied because they do not prevent the Temporary Coalition Government from practicing its rights and fulfilling its obligations, or as long as they do not disagree with this regulatory list or with any other regulatory list issued by the Temporary Coalition Government.

On the other hand, and in reference to order number (7) issued by the Temporary Coalition Government, and section three of said order concerning the penal code, and in item (2) of said order it is "stated" that the execution penalty shall be suspended in those cases where the execution penalty stipulated for penalizing the perpetrator. The court may substitute it by penalizing the accused to life-in-prison or to force upon him another penalty according to the stipulations of the penal code.

And as been clarified to us, the Temporary Coalition Government is considered a transitional authority in Iraq until achieving full sovereignty according to article (43) of The Hague Laws of 1907- the orientation of the occupier is to respect the language, norms and traditions of the occupied country. And whereas the Coalition Government had the legal authority to amend the Iraqi Local Law according to the conditions determined in paragraph (64) of Geneva Convention for protecting the people, and according to the decision of the Security Council number (1483). And whereas the President of the Coalition Government suspended the execution penalty and did not cancel it, and that it is legally stipulated in the Iraqi penal code number 111 for the year 1969 i.e. suspending the execution penalty by the coalition government and not canceling it, and this penalty exists in the Iraqi penal code since the year 1919.

Therefore, the first criminal body in the Iraqi court sees unanimously that it can judge any of the accused in this case by the appropriate penalty due to the seriousness of the felony or the committed crime including the execution penalty in accordance with term (24) of the Iraqi High Court number (10) for the year 2005 and the amended Iraqi penal code number (111) for the year 1969.

According to article (1) second of the Iraqi High Court number (10) for the year 2005, the Court,s authority shall be applied to every physical and legal person whether Iraqi or non-Iraqi, residing in Iraq and accused in committing one of the crimes stated in articles (11, 12, 13, 14) of said law committed as of 17/7/1968 until 1/5/2003 in the Republic of Iraq or in any other place, comprising the following crimes:

Judge Raouf Rashid AbdulRahman (seal & signature)

Seal of the Iraqi High Court

a. Extermination

b. Crimes against humanity

c. War crimes

d. Violation of Iraqi laws stipulated in article 14 of this law.

And in accordance with article (12)

First: of the law effective in this case and according to the charges brought against the accused (Saddam Hussein Majeed, Barazan Ibrahim Hassan, Taha Yassin Ramadan, Awad Hamad El Bandar, Mezher Abdalah Kazem Roueid, Abdalah Kazem Roueid, Ali Dayeh Ali- Mohamad Azawi Ali El Marsoumi).

And according to the item First of the accusatory list brought against the accused includes:

a. Intentional homicide

b. Extermination.

c. Slavery.

d. Displacement and forcing people to move.

e. Imprisonment and strict prohibition of any physical freedoms, which infringes on the basic regulations of the international law.

f. Torture

g. Rape, coercive pregnancy, forcing on prostitution, and any other types of sexual violence of similar seriousness.

h. Persecution of any specified group of people for political or ethnical or national or cultural or religious reasons or related to the gender or any other reasons not permitted by the international law in connection with any of the above mentioned acts or type of sexual violence of similar seriousness.

i. Coercive concealment of people

j. Other non-human acts of similar seriousness, which may intentionally cause severe suffering or dangerous harm to the body or mental or physical health.

Judge Raouf Rashid AbdulRahman (seal & signature)

Seal of the Iraqi High Court

Second: For the purpose of applying the item First, the above terms have the following meanings:

a. Attack against any group of civilians means a way of behavior that includes frequently committing of the acts stated in item First of this article against any group of civilians pursuant to the policy of the government or organization that imposes such attack or supports such policy.

b. Extermination means the willful imposing of deprivation from food or medicine intending to cause the death of some people.

c. Slavery is the state of being under the control of another person including the practice of such control by trading in people as women and children.

d. Displacement or coercively moving people means moving people coercively from the region where they legally reside, by repelling or any other coercive act without justifications permitted by the international law.

e. Torturing means intending to cause severe pain or suffering whether physical or mental on the confined person or under the control of the accuser provided that torturing does not comprise pain or suffer resulting from legal penalties or other relevant thereto.

f. Persecution means severe and intentional deprivation of the basic rights, which disagrees with the international law because of the identity of the group.

g. Coercive concealment of people means to capture people or confine them or kidnap them by the government or a political organization or by it permitting or supporting this act then refusing to acknowledge the deprivation of the those people of their freedoms or giving information about their fate or their place in order to deprive them from the legal protection for a long period of time.

Article (17)

First: In the case where no legal text exists in this law or in the regulations constituting it the criminal justice code will apply indict and try those who are accused as per the following cods:

Judge Raouf Rashid AbdulRahman (seal & signature)

Seal of the Iraqi High Court

The period from 17/7/1968 to 14/2/1969 Penal Code of Baghdad for the year 1919.

b. The period from 15/12/1969 till 1/5/2003 penal code number (111) for the year 1969 that took effect in 1985.

c. Military penal code number 13 for the year 1940 and Military procedure law number (44) for the year 1941.

Second: The court and the appeal commission may refer to the precedence in the international criminal courts for interpreting the provisions of articles (11, 12, 13) of the law.

Third: The provisions of the penal code shall be effective in conformity with the provisions of this code and the international legal obligations relating to the crimes included in the court,s authority upon applying the special provisions of exemption from criminal responsibility.

Fourth: The crimes stipulated in articles (11, 12, 13, 14) of this law shall not be subject to the prescription that drops the criminal lawsuit and penalty.

And upon carefully examining the aforementioned acts as crimes against humanity in article (12) of the criminal court, the court sees that there are criminal acts identified within the amended penal code number (111) of 1969 that agrees with the fundamental acts of crimes against humanity which is stipulated to take place within a large scale regulatory attack against a group of civilians/civilian society. However, homicide is identified by virtue of articles (406, 405) of the penal code as: the intentional killing of another person. This description agrees with the description of the crimes against humanity stipulated in article (12) first of the High Court code. Also the Iraqi penal code and in articles (325,322,333,393,421) criminalize: displacement, imprisonment, torture, rape, coercive concealment described as crimes against humanity included in article (12) –first- paragraphs (c, e ,f ,h)

Also the Iraqi penal code includes criminal acts having characteristics of the crimes against humanity as stated in articles from (90) to (222) of the law that the criminal acts against the internal security of the government comprises the criminal acts referred to in article (12), referred to by article (194), which punishes by execution any person organizes or manages or hold command of an armed group that attacks any group of people or aims, as one of its goals, to prevent the application of the law; also articles (334,335,342) criminalize the seizure or the destruction of the properties of others and articles (412,439) that criminalize assaulting and stealing other,s money.

The fundamental components of establishing the court

The beginning of establishing the first penal body presided by judge Mr. Rezkar Mohamad Amine and the membership of four other judges. And after the resignation of the president and excluding one of the criminal body members, the first criminal body was re-established presided by judge Mr. (Raouf Rashid AbdulRahman) who commenced his judicial duties in the session on 23/1/2006 upon the administrative order issued by the presidency of the Iraqi High Court n° (13) dated 22/1/2006. On 17/February, the defense presented a request for the withdraw of the new president of the body (Raouf Rashid AbdulRahman) from a lawsuit for being sided with the accused Saddam Hussein for being born in Halabja city from one side and for participating in the establishing of Human Rights Organization in Kurdistan in 1992 which opposed the government of Iraq and for being previously condemned and Saddam Hussein has forgiven him on the other side.

These presentations of the truth have a basic purpose as to obstruct the acts of the court after the resignation of the former judge. As for the personality of the new judge and as been clarified to the accused Saddam Hussein in the court,s hall being from Halabja, and this does not relate to his judicial work for he has taken an oath and if he felt embarrassed in this concern he would ask for withdrawal according to law. Also, he wasn’t arrested under the ruling of Saddam Hussein where he was practicing legal profession and owned a legal office in Baghdad. He was arrested under the ruling of AbdulSalam Aref during 1963-1964, where Saddam Hussein and some members of Al Baath party were arrested during that period too. As for working in the Human Rights in Kurdistan, the relationship and contribution in the formation of this organization were by human motives away from the political view of issues. And the formation of the organization in 1991 was within the scope of Kurds Administrations out of the control of the central government.

Judge Raouf Rashid AbdulRahman (seal & signature)

Seal of the Iraqi High Court

In this conclusion, the aspect of the judge,s favor towards Saddam Hussein has in fact two directions: First: All Iraqi civilians had relatives and friends and country folks who suffered during the rule of Saddam Hussein and this statistical fact urges the judges in Iraq to relinquish any lawsuit against the previous regime staff. Concerning the procedures, this judge and other judges have customs of independency and impartiality judged to disregard any case brought before them towards which they feel embarrassed especially that they with judge (Raouf Rashid) have taken an oath that shouldn,t be neglected for the trial of Saddam Hussein.

Therefore, the first criminal body refuses to appeal the capacity of Judge Raouf Rashid concerning his favoring Saddam Hussein or any of the others accused.

Introduction to the judgment decision

First: Each of the accused ( Saddam Hussein Majeed-Barazan Ibrahim Hassan-Taha Yassin Ramadan- known as Taha El Jerzawi-Awad HaNAD Badr Al Bandar El Saadoun-Ali Dayeh Ali El Zabidi- Abdallah Kazem Roueid El Mashayekhi- Mezher Abdallah Kazem Roueid El Mashayekhi) are referred to this court charged with committing crimes against humanity pursuant to the provisions of article 12 First paragraphs ( a, d ,e ,f) of the Iraqi Court of law n° (11) of 2005 and content of article (15) paragraphs First, Second of the Iraqi court of law article (406) of the penal code n° (11) of 1969; the crime attributed to them is murder, arrest of civilians and families of Al Dujail reached as a total (149) victim and devastating the properties as houses, furniture, autos, water pumps, and canals of water drawn from the Tigris river to irritate gardens and then issuing a presidential decision to sweep away gardens and seize arable lands of the town by virtue of the Revolution Command Council decision n°(1283) dated 14/10/1984 by means of an organized and planned general attack in response to the 10 to 12 gunshots ( Kalashnikov gunshots) from behind the fence of one of the gardens on the presidential procession in Al Dujail on 7/8/1982, whereas this safe town was rich in fruit gardens irritated from the Tigris river through canals and water pumps, and that its people – before the accident- were enjoying a well standard of living as for their incomes and many were enrolled in educational studies and others in organizational groups, Al Baath party was mixed between Shiites and Sunnites, and before year 1982, the town was related to a district pertaining to Tekrit province; the town of the accused Saddam Hussein Majeed, then it was turned into a district. The tribal connections were strong and tight and it was one of the most cultural towns for it is related to Tekrit province named as Salah Eddine and connected to Baghdad via a paved and modern road.

In addition to the administrative center and the police stations in the city, there are also several governmental departments, and the municipalities services were considered well if compared to other cultural places. The headquarter of the ruling Al Baath party that was managing organization issues and those responsible for managing the office of the said party were from Samara Sunni town and from Mousel.

The town was the concern of Al Baath party and officials visit the town continuously and the last was the visit of the accused Saddam Hussein president of the republic on 8/7/1982 during the month of Ramadan and since the town had religious and rural features, the families were self-restrained, and there were relationships by marriage between the two denominations in the town, and it was under the supervision of the head of security who searched for secret organized groups pertaining to the convocation party ( Al Daawa) that of Shiite religious feature and during the visit of the mentioned day the accident happened and stories varied about it. The stories told by high authority ranks according to official statements that the gunshots were an attempt to shoot the presidential procession when passing by one of the old streets of the town surrounded by gardens with highclay walls. Upon the gunshots, maximum alteration was announced in the town and military forces spread across the town and special presidential guard came from Baghdad and the chief of the information system Barazan Ibrahim Hassan( brother of the accused Saddam Hussein president of the republic) was charged with the mission.

The town was surrounded with soldiers and special security and investigation squads and public army forces in addition to the party group in the town, and war planes and helicopters started gunfire and shelling the gardens and internal roads. Within minutes of planes bombardments, nine people inside the filed were killed, in addition to other persons inside the town.

The control of the judicial investigating system was raised from the investigation and during the same day, the accused Taha Yassin Ramadan came to the town. The latter was the public army commander and vice-president of the cabinet and the close reliable person to the accused Saddam Hussein who gathered with him in Baghdad before arriving to Al Dujail, meanwhile, he made a short visit to the Minister of the Interior Saadoun Shaker and then he returned without the interference of the Minister of Interior. From the early hours, the accused Barazan Ibrahim (chief of the investigation system) became the actual commander of the operations and specified presidential orders were issued in all sections and forces receiving orders therefrom.

The accused took the location of the party group of Al Baath party as his operation and control center.

Immediately, the investigations system commanders came from Baghdad; the investigation head office undertook the inspection and investigation mission and so he examined the accident,s location and submitted his preparatory report which did not reach any result concerning the gunfire towards the procession of the accused Saddam Hussein. He also attested that the gunshots were found deep inside not outside the garden and since the clay wall (2 meters high) therefore it is difficult for the person/s to know what,s going on the street behind the garden and nobody was hurt. However, the accused Saddam Hussein, and insisted on the revenge and harm as many people of this town as possible, he delegated his brother Barazan Ibrahim- chief of the Intelligence service to punish the people for the anonymous gunshots.

Second: The investigating file in this subject is very complicated and exhausting of the investigator because it is not limited to arresting people accused for the gunfire, instead, it went beyond that to individuals of families and others of the fifth and sixth degree, even individuals who reside in Al Dujail just for being relatives of any of the accused. The detention comprised arrest and execution of individuals of the armed forces who were in the battle front at the time of the accident although they do not know about the accident of Al Dujail or they were employed outside town in (Masfa Biji). These unfamiliar exempting procedures formed obstacles with the investigators and the court as revealed by the lawsuit papers and court,s sessions.

Third: The case doesn’t have a single file only. Its is a matter of several files and dossiers of papers, decisions and orders that are basically unorganized and unrelated in contents and subjects which forms obstacles before the investigators. Said obstacles affected the procedures at the court, this took some time and additional and exhausting effort, and that the public prosecution, despite its continuous and helpful effort, it was affected in one way or another by the said obstacles while presenting documents and CD,s in addition to successive papers between sessions before the court which resulted in the accumulation of papers and documents not in hand to be verified and examined. This results from the prevailing drop of the regime and its systems at the beginning of the war, the thing that did not come to the war planners mind.

Fourth: The variety of security and intelligence forces under the rule of the former regime, the numerous piles of documents at any of these systems tool a long time for verification, examination and classification concerning the proper presentation of these papers before the court; it was even impossible to present some evidences and documents and so the court did not take them into consideration as an evidence and therefore didn’t discuss them during the sessions

Fifth: The court noticed during the course of the trial sessions that the defense attempted several times to form a state of confusion and chaos inside the court hall, they even motivated the accused to rebel and disobey and they nominated

the accused by titles and presented themselves to them at the beginning of every session. These accused were in high authority positions and are not accused of committing serious crimes in the view of the local and international penal law, even the presentations of these attorneys were all the preface of the accused president Saddam Hussein, although the accused referred to doesn’t have any considerable or mastery capacity within the course of this lawsuit on one hand, and on the other hand the Iraqi people have by free and direct voting, elected deputy council and chosen a president of mastery authority for presidency despite the presence of an illegal government recognized constitutionally by the elected parliament by means of free direct election. And whereas the accused Saddam Hussein doesn’t have before this court but the capacity of the accused, therefore, the court decided to unsettle the requests submitted to it under this title and capacity, and even not to refer to it in the judgment decision for being unduly. Although, those attorneys should have complied with the provisions of the laws and the regulations and traditions that their profession- as attorneys- obligate them to comply with according to articles (39 and 50) of law n° (173) of 1965, additionally, some foreign attorneys have unduly and illegal powers of attorneys according to the stipulations of article third paragraph A, B of the legal profession law n° 173 of 1965.

Sixth: Unfortunately, the court noticed the false swearing by some of the defense testimonies and the probable collusion in this process which violates the law and procedural rules between some of the defense attorneys and those witnesses in the session of 31/5/2006 of the trial, as those witnesses testified later that they were pushed by the defense attorneys to give untrue attestations against the chief of public prosecution of Mr. Jaafar El Mousawi who met those witnesses in a funeral in Al Dujail during July 2004, moreover, they said that the public prosecutor offered them amounts of money to testify against Saddam Hussein and, in light of these sayings, the defense attorneys requested, by means of a speech protest and harsh accent, to display a special CD of the mentioned funeral in which a person appears and they claimed that he is the public prosecutor Mr. Jaafar El Mousawi.

This latter claimed that he had never visited Al Dujail before, and since it is a public trial displayed on TV, when the concerned person watched this fabrication, he contacted the court and the public prosecution department and expressed concern to appear before the court and reveal the truth.

And so the concerned person Mr. Abdul Aziz Mohamad Al Bandar appeared before the court beside the defendant to nullify this fabrication.

In another attempt by the defense attorneys to falsify the facts, they forced a person to appear with an important testimony, saying that some of the persons’ names mentioned in the official lists issued by the revolution court about those executed before the accused Awad Hamad Al Bandar in 1983 are still alive; the witness claimed that (23) individual are still alive and that he shared food with them. And when this witness was asked to nominate the victims whom he claims are still alive, he started reading some names written on a paper in his hand. But when the court asked him to spell the names without using the paper, he couldn’t remember them. Worst of all, it appeared that the handwriting on the paper differs from the handwriting of the witness.

And when the court asked him about it, he confessed that the paper was given to him by an anonymous source.

In light of this, the court decided to refer the witness and the aforementioned other three to the investigation court charged with false testimony according to articles (251, 252) of the penal code n° 111 of 1969. Upon investigating those witnesses by one of judges delegated for this purpose by the court body on 1/6/2006.

Due to the public investigation in this subject and the presence of the attorneys of the defense office and a legal consultant from the court, it appeared the two of the witnesses do not originate from Al Dujail, they have even never visited the town; one from Baghdad and the other from the town named (Taji) close to Baghdad. And they openly attested that the defense attorneys ordered them to say that they are from Baghdad and to testify against the public prosecutor Mr. Jaafar El Mousawi and that the defense have offered them residence in Damsacus, Syria and job vacancies with a contractor from Takrit, and he paid individuals from the defense body kidnapped his son and threatened to kill his son if he didn’t testify for the favor of Saddam Hussein and against the public prosecutor. And those ordered his transmission to Syria a former body guard of Saddam Hussein named Assaad Abou Oumar with the head of the defense attorneys board Mr. Khalil El Doulaimi and trained them on the subject of this testimony.

After closing the session, the court decided to establish a committee to investigate with the four witnesses. And after the completion of the investigations they were referred to the investigation court in El Karkh in Baghdad and the four witnesses were released on bail.

All these facts revealed that the defense attorneys are prepared to compromise their honesty by directing their efforts to defame the court instead of directing their efforts to defending their clients.

The legal course (in response to the gunfire towards the procession of Saddam Hussein on 8/7/1982 by the wide range systematic attack on the people of Al Dujail)

The Iraqi penal code defines the word "attack" as a kind of behavior that results in committing several acts classified among the ten crimes stipulated in the first provisions of article 12 of the Iraqi High Court referred to( crimes against humanity) against any of the civilians pursuant to the government,s policy and its systematic plan to commit such attack. Although the attack may not necessarily agree with the government organizational policy or plan, however, the existence of a practical policy and consecutive acts form a relevant evidence that the attack was prepared and directed against civilians, although, and pursuant to the judicial course of similar trials, there are requirements that the policy that must be adopted officially is an official policy of the government, even the existence of a kind of plan or pre-programmed policy is enough.

Although the term "attack" differs in meaning by virtue of the laws of war, but concerning the crimes against humanity, there,s no need for hostile military forces to be attacked.

The acts against any of the civilians including people of the attacked town gives the complete meaning for the definition, where the use of armed forces and violence does not necessarily predict an attack.

For any mistreatment of civilians, may form an attack as long as it is executed on a systematical, wide-ranged basis against a group of people and by such means crimes may take place as murder, rape, compulsory expatriation.

Suppose that the civilians are the main target of the attack and are not the just accidental victims, i.e. the intention of the accused about the purpose of the attack doesn’t absolutely relate to his individual liability.

Although the term " civilians" doesn’t mean all the people of the geographical scope or town as in Al Dujail, where many people were attacked, despite the small distanced town, it has some special features as the existence of the Shiite denomination, and this exposed the town to an attack without a procedural investigation, all were accused as " ravaging traitors", and as stated in the judgment decision issued by the revolution court in folder n° 944/J/984 the following:" they belong to the convocation party( Al Daawa) and participated in distributing hostile publications that incites religious conflicts and establishing a disordered regime similar to treason regime in Qum and Tehran; the execution of their criminal plan was directed by their Persian masters. Confirming the saying of the accused head of the revolutionary court (Awad Hamad Al Bandar) that in the town of Al Dujail resides Arab Iraqi citizens of a majority of Shiites and others of Sunnis and this is noticed among the names of the officials who gathered whole families outside Al Dujail.

Most of those officials of the party, security and government in management were surnamed as " Samurai" or" Machahidi" and those were Sunnites from the outside of Al Dujail, and just identifying the accused as ( the convocation party –the traitor) and

traitors of their Persian masters and inciting religious conflicts indicates clearly to a " specified group of people in town".

There is a strong tendency to harm them even before the gunfire accident on the president,s procession then, regardless of the intimate relation between the Shiites and Sunnites individuals in the town, and marriage relationships between them.

The important is the view of the authority and the officials of the small city, and the view of the authority party of those who were always accused and they also had to prove the contrary, even the organizers inside Al Baath party organizations under secret supervision, on the other hand the authorities act of taking the whole families including infants to Baghdad for investigation and taking military individuals of those families who were battle fronts or employed outside town by arresting them, and finally, executing 148 persons or killing them under torture according to documents indicating their names among the papers of this lawsuit.

The court noticed during the course of trials and the documents presented and the attestations of complainants and victims that the attack on those family was" systematical" as mush as it was organized and planned for, indicated by the pre-planning to arrest families and bringing those living outside Al Dujail for military service or employment or living inside Baghdad in Al Kathimiya city, so the arrest of those individuals was organized and systematic, and it is definitely improbable that it happened randomly. This is from the procedural action side. As for the subjectivity, the command of the investigating with and arresting those individuals accused with gunfire towards the president,s procession was undertaken by the head of the highest and most dangerous security system in the country " the investigation system" concerned in the country,s foreign security, where the court during the course of complete verification of the cases documents didn’t find anything indicating the interference of the party,s individuals or judicial investigating board or even the interference in the suing order and arresting individuals of these families, instead, the command was of the head of the system personally. It is also noticeable that within an internal document for this system, a harsh criticism is addressed to the directorate general of security; the system specialized in the interior security of the court for this system did not take the necessary steps concerning the accused ( Bourhan Yakoub Majee)

Concerning the appeal (the party system in Al Dujail) whereas some partymen in town did not participate in personalizing those killed after the accident by airplanes bombs on gardens. And so, the arrest of the families or investigation even those arrested are under the control of the investigation system without the several other security systems. In light of the facts, revealed by the case,s documents and in light of the comments of the accused (Saddam Hussein) and ( Barazan Ibrahim) during the

investigation and during the trial sessions, the systematic wide range attack which resulted many victims was organized and planned for and it took the course of continuity since 8/7/1982. And of the systematic indications of this attack, that the attack and the procedures were an execution of a pre-organized policy and plan, and it didn’t happen randomly as for arresting family individuals as children and adults, then devastating their homes, plundering their properties, and issuing presidential decisions for seizing and devastating gardens as a claim to rebuild and redevelop the small town.

This court sees that the former governing authority committed wide range crimes against civilians in Al Dujail as a response for the attempt of assassinating the president then accused (Saddam Hussein) on 8/7/1982, and charged the investigation system with the plan command and execution without other security systems.

The head of the investigation system by the command of the accuse ( Barazan) held a meeting with his assistants to coordinate the response to the attempt, where it was coordinated with the local security systems and the police and the party in response to the accident and under the supervision of the investigation system where the accused( Barazan) arrived to the town directly after the day of the accident and met the local security official as mentioned, then airplanes and helicopters and war planes were gathered to bombard gardens and public places in party individuals started attacking houses and arresting people and soon there was arrangements to transmit the arrested families by cars pertaining to the investigation system came from Baghdad. It is noticed that those orders issued by (Barazan Ibrahim) and an order issued by (Saddam Hussein) to sweep away gardens under the supervision of the accused (Taha Yassin Ramadan).

These continuous procedures and accidents within not more than (24) hours did not happen accidentally or randomly.

The attack, first of all, killed civilians who did not have any relations with any military or civil group, and upon calculating the number of people in the small town at the time of the accident and the families arrested, the number of arrested people post the accident reached more than one thousand person and after releasing others according to the official statistics there remained (399) person and the number of killed reached (143) person.

in light of the facts and the official documents under examination, the first criminal board sees in the Iraqi court that the attack against the inhabitants of Al Dujail was systematic and widely ranged for the town remained under the control of the forces (by the command of the first chief of investigation system) for days and for a limit of two or more months.

In light of the statistics available before the court and according to the official documents that a large sum of its people were arrested and that the expatriation punishment were executed against families and individuals by means of a systematic act that required the gathering of authorities.

Obviously, and according to the facts stated and the official evidence revealed by the archive of the former authority as the investigation system and the decisions of the revolution court, that the attack on Al Dujail killed civilians. Although most of the victims and individuals didn’t have any connection with the gunfire attempt on the accused president,s procession (Saddam Hussein). On the contrary, the accused claimed that the attack was aimed towards civilians who attacked the procession of (Saddam Hussein). At the end, about (543) person were imprisoned or killed or displaced as a result of the assassination. This large number of arrested people exceeds the limited number of those participated in the attempt from (7) to (8) persons, this was described by a former officer in the investigation system as (crime of the opportunity)

The final outcome of the trial procedures

In light of the facts and evidence revealed from the former authority documents issued by high ranking decision makers, the office of the presidency of the republic and the sovereign decisions signed by the president and the commander in chief of the armed forces, and in light of the confirmed official evidence issued by the head of the intelligence service, which is the most dangerous and strongest security system in the country, and evidence that is enhanced by the attestations of the victims’ families and witnesses on the one hand, and the non-denial of the accused of the horrible facts revealed by the investigation and trial, on the other. Instead, they (the accused) didn,t pay attention to these pieces of written evidence which are undoubtedly truthful and factual, as they carry the signatures of the authorities issuing it. And as the contents of the official evidence reinforce the testimonies of the complainants and witnesses, and as the State had dedicated the intelligence service of the country for the purpose of was called "punishing the people of Al Dujail and teaching then a lesson", so that they would be an example for others, and whereas the cost of some bullets shot by a group of young men towards the president,s procession inside Al Dujail on 8/7/1982, although unverified by any written or heard evidence that these bullets were indeed directed towards his procession, but it was sheer accident that made it look to the accused Saddam Hussein as the supreme president of the country and the commander in chief of the armed forces and the one who was in control of the security systems in the country, to order such an attack under the command of his accused brother (Barazan Ibrahim Hassan) head of the intelligence service and popular army, which was the pillar of support for the Baath party in power under the leadership of (Taha Yassin). As a final outcome, the punishing of the people and the victims families by executing them, even for the dead and buried which happened as a result of the culture of the ruling authority, and whereas the evidence and proof mentioned and announced before the court in the form of official documents issued with the signature of the first accused Saddam Hussein indicates that the punishment of Al Dujail people was intended to instill terror and fear among the Iraqi people in general. This was a systematic, calculated plan implemented under the rule of (Saddam Hussein) against everybody who would even entertain the idea of doing something like this. And whereas the official count of the victims of the calamity reached (148) persons according to the verdict of the revolutionary court number 982/J/942 dated 14/6/1982 confirmed by presidential decrees issued with the signature of Saddam Hussein number 778, dated 16/6/1994.

This was in addition to the tens of people who died from hunger, fear and terror while either in detention at the intelligence detention center or at Abu Ghraib prison or the prison camp Lea in the desert far away from people,s eyes, where these deaths haven’t been accounted for. This was in addition to the to the mental and physical torture of hundreds of people, men, women and children, infants and the rape of women and girls in front of the eyes of their parents, which is more serious than murder. And as been verified by the investigation and trial, all of this in addition to plundering and destroying of properties and houses of the imprisoned and exiled families. These practices even went as far as getting to the breath taking nature, as these people destroyed gardens and agricultural lands, and devastated pumps. All these procedures

which were in violation of the Iraqi constitution that was in force, in theory only, during the rule of Saddam Hussein, i.e. the systematic devastating process was named “the Urban and Cultural development”!!! All this was the cost of ten to twelve bullets that were fired from inside the fields and nobody was hurt and no one knew the source or direction of the gunfire according to the view of the investigation directors of the investigation and security services in the town, and by the Minister of Interior and the high command member who was close to Saddam Hussein who carried out the inspection of the accident. He attested that "the gunfire was random and un-targeted, it happened accidentally that the president,s procession was passing in town at the time of shooting". And it was not proven before the court during the investigation and trial that any of the armored cars of the president,s procession were shot. And whereas the international defense attorneys of the accused Saddam Hussein and the others did not present not even present a weak piece of evidence that the gunshots were directed towards the procession. And whereas the actual facts indicate the "misfortune of those victims" who shot the fire from inside the fields without knowing or thinking that there was a presidential procession passing behind the roughly 2 meters high clay walls, and so "the bad luck” had lead to this deliberate tragedy for the people of Al Dujail on 8/7/1982. What resulted thereafter in the form of disasters afflicting the farms and the people was a long term, systematic and calculated policy that was enforced against the stricken families, with all that they had of children, fields and homes. This went further by targeting the town and targeting Its people for years by devastating its field and irrigation systems and arable lands.

This long term, continuous and systematic effort, as it was applied in the form of issuing presidential decisions having the signature of (Saddam Hussein) had the intent of re ensuring loyalty to the president and his authority by force, and it was an act of revenge even against the party members whom became suspect, as was related by some of the accused themselves in the case during the trial, including Ali Dayeh Ali, Abdalah Kazem Roueid and Mohamad Azawi Ali for having connections with some of families who were security suspect.

In light of all the facts and tragic situations after the gunfire accident on 8/7/1982, the court discussed in detail and objectivity the accusation addressed to (Saddam Hussein) and the others accused by virtue of the indictment read in the session on 15/5/2006 of the trial pursuant to the provision of article (twelve) first and on the basis of the provisions of of article (15) paragraph first, second, third, fourth of the Criminal Iraqi High Tribunal ribunal number 10 of 2005 which includes the issuance of direct orders by him as the president of the republic and the head of the revolutionary command council and the commander in chief of the armed forces to surround the town and directly attack according to a wide ranging, systematic plan, using various weapons including war planes, helicopters and putting the town under a strict security belt on its entrances and exits, that was beginning in mid of 8/7/1982 and the following days. These measure were aimed at collective punishment of the people of the town, some of whose inhabitants were considered "traitors for a foreign neighboring country" with which Iraq had been at a fierce war. The accused (Barazan Ibrahim) undertook this military wide ranging mission as a field and security commander to administer the seige and attack mission on the town. He placed under his command a brigade of Presidential Guard forces, together with the party forces, the popular army and the local police.

Military forces surrounded the town -- "attacking the town by closing the entrances and exits" -- all this for the purpose of revenge and punishment.

The accused (Barazan Ibrahim Hassan) commenced the attack on the instruction of his brother, the accused (Saddam Hussein), who directly arrived at the town and stayed there for three days for the actual supervision on the wide ranging, systematic and continuous attack against anyone he suspected of being disloyal to the government. He used local informers to tell on individuals and families, then arresting of all family members before transporting them directly to the intelligence center in Baghdad. The orders of (Barazan Ibrahim) were oral, and were directly executed without argument. The arrangements concerning the collective transport op arrestees were done directly by drivers from outside the town as an important part of the plan, and so, during his three days of staying in Al Dujail, the part related to the collective transport of arrestees was executed, in addition to pointing to the properties and assetts of the said families. The number of people and families arrested was so huge that that they were even placed in schools until the gathering mission was completes and then transferring them by special cars and drivers from outside Al Dujail to Baghdad “Intelligence Building”. The number of individuals and families kept in the investigation office reached 399 people among them were children and old people. During the investigation, there was severe torturing and insults against women and children, torturing by passing the electrical wire on sensitive parts of the body, swiping on the head, in addition to the atmosphere of psychological terror by placing the arrested families in red-light rooms which lead to excess psychological torture; each of the following died under torture: (Yakoub Youssef Husein El Abidi), (Jasem Mohamad Latif El Salami), (Saleh Mohamad Jasem), (Kassem Ali Assaad El Haidari) and (Alwan Hassan Hussein El Salami).

Saddam Hussein Al Majeed	Born in 1937	Former president
Barazan Ibrahim Hassan	Born in 19951	Former head of the intelligence service
Taha Yassin Ramadan	Born in 1939	Former deputy prime minister and member of Al Baath party
Awad Hamad Badr Al Bandar	Born in 1944	Head of the revolutionary court (dissolved)
Abdallah Kazem Roueid	Born in 1925	Peasant-member in Al Baath party- Al Dujail
Mezher Abdal Kazem	Born in 1952	Employee-member in Al Baath party- Al Dujail
Ali Dayeh Ali	Born in 1940	Employee-member in Al Baath party- Al Dujail
Mohamad Azawi Ali	Born in 1923	Peasant-member in Al Baath party- Al Dujail