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On October 19, 2005, the first criminal trial of the Tribunal convened in Baghdad to hear its first case, entitled Case Number 1, known as the al-Dujail case.  On the same day, the Tribunal released a statement summarizing the proceedings of the hearing.

Facts Alleged

The October 19 statement (external link) alleges that hundreds of the al-Dujail residents were detained following the firing of shots at the motorcade of the head of the former regime, the defendant Saddam Hussein.  Six hundred and eighty-seven persons (687) were detained.  One hundred and eighty-four (184) of the detainees were referred to the Revolutionary Court, which condemned them to death after a brief trial.  Another three hundred and ninety-nine persons (399), all of whom were women, children, and elderly men, were detained in the desert Lia camp close to the Saudi borders, where they spent four years before their release.  Another forty-six persons (46) died in prison as a result of corporal and psychological torture during investigation.

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Charges

Statements released by the Tribunal have not listed the detailed charges introduced against each of the defendants in the al-Dujail case.  The October 19 statement (external link), however, indicates that the presiding judge informed the defendants that they were indicted under articles 12 and 15 of Iraqi Law Number 10 of 2005 (PDF, 2.21MB).  The charges are: premeditated murder, false imprisonment, forcible expulsion of residents, destruction of agricultural land, and confiscation of the victims’ land and orchards.

Article 12 of Law Number 10 of 2005 defines crimes against humanity, and article 15 defines individual criminal responsibility.  These two articles were drafted in close conformity to articles 7 and 21 of the Rome Statute (PDF, 1.01MB) of the International Criminal Court.

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Defendants

In its press release of February 28, 2005 (external link), the Tribunal stated that the investigation in the al-Dujail case had been concluded.  It also listed the names of the principal defendants, as follows:

• Barazan Ibrahim Hassan al-Takriti, half brother of the former president Saddam Hussein and director of Iraqi intelligence;
• Taha Yassin Ramadan, deputy prime-minister;
• Awad al-Bandar al-Saadoun, chief judge of the revolutionary court; and
• Abdullah Kazem Roueid and his son Muzheir Roueid, influential members of the Baath party.  

The October 19 statement (external link) of the Tribunal, summarizing the first hearing of the al-Dujail case, also included as defendants in the case:  Saddam Hussein, Ali Daih Ali, and Mohammed Azawi Ali.

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Last Updated: 07/03/2007