SESSIONS 24-32: SADDAM TRIAL DEFENSE WITNESS

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 BAGHDAD 001983

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/11/2016
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KJUS KCRM KDEM IZ
SUBJECT: SESSIONS 24-32: SADDAM TRIAL DEFENSE WITNESS
TESTIMONY, PERJURY


Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission David M. Satterfield for reasons
1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (S) SUMMARY: From May 15-31, the Iraqi High Tribunal
(IHT) heard testimony from defense witnesses for the eight
defendants in the Ad-Dujayl trial. Amid concerns over
testimony given by four defense witnesses, a hearing was held
to assess perjury charges. The perjured witnesses revealed
that they had been threatened into giving false testimony on
behalf of Saddam Hussein, with one stating that defense
witnesses were offered jobs, money, and safe passage to Syria
in exchange for positive statements about Saddam.
Proceedings are expected to continue for three days beginning
June 12 to hear final defense witnesses, after which the
trial will close and the court will recess to draft its
Judgment. END SUMMARY.

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DEFENSE WITNESS TESTIMONY
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2. (SBU) Twenty-three defense witnesses testified on behalf
of the four lower-ranking defendants: six testified for
Muhammed Azzawi; seven testified for Ali Dayih Ali; and ten
testified for Abdullah Kazim Roweed and his son, Muzhir Kazim
Roweed. All 23 witnesses who testified for these four
defendants were non-detained Iraqi civilians. Witnesses
generally asserted that the defendants were lower-ranking
officials in the Ba'ath Party who had no responsibility or
involvement in the Ad-Dujayl reprisal. Other witnesses
argued that some defendants were not in Ad-Dujayl at the time
of the event.


3. (SBU) Four witnesses, all non-detained Iraqi civilians,
testified on behalf of the former Chief of the Revolutionary
Command Council Court ("RCCC"),Judge Awad Hamad Al-Bandar.
Three of these witnesses had practiced as lawyers before the
RCCC and challenged prosecution assertions regarding the
RCCC's procedures. One witness had no information related to
the Ad-Dujayl case, but he stated that that the RCCC did not
try defendants in absentia, that defendants were always
accorded representation, and that the RCCC did not convict
minors.


4. (SBU) From May 22-31, seven witnesses testified on behalf
of Barzan Al-Tikriti, four of whom had also testified on
behalf of other defendants. Five of Barzan's witnesses were
detained Iraqis and two were non-detained Iraqi civilians.
In general, the witnesses contended that Barzan acted fairly
and in the interests of Iraq's national security and that
Barzan released detainees who were not involved in the
assassination attempt against Saddam Hussein. One detained
witness, Tariq Aziz, testified that that neither Saddam nor
Barzan were guilty of any crime because Iraq had a right to
punish those responsible for the failed assassination attempt
against Saddam.


5. (SBU) No witnesses testified exclusively for Taha Yasin
Ramadan.

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DEFENSE WITNESS TESTIMONY FOR SADDAM HUSSEIN
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6. (SBU) Nineteen witnesses testified on behalf of Saddam
Hussein during five sessions from May 22-31. Multiple
witnesses stated that Saddam did not order the Ad-Dujayl
orchards destroyed without compensation to the affected
families. Several witnesses said that villagers were
compensated generously for their losses no later than a year
and a half after the incident. The decision to level the
orchards was for economic development, witnesses testified,
not in retaliation for the assassination attempt. At one
point, however, Saddam himself rejected this line of
testimony, stating that the orchards were destroyed in direct
retaliation for the assassination attempt rather than for
civic improvement.


7. (SBU) Other witnesses contended that there were no
arbitrary arrests in Ad-Dujayl and that all those arrested
were affiliated with the Dawa party. One witness testified
that he explored the orchards after the failed assassination
attempt and found large quantities of Iranian-made weapons in
the area.


8. (SBU) One witness testified that he worked at Abu Ghraib
Prison and that some of the 148 villagers allegedly executed
as a result of the RCCC trial are alive. The witness
produced a list of names that he purportedly had written
himself. An argument ensued between the defense and the

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bench when the witness was asked to rewrite the list in the
presence of the court, and the issue was left unresolved.


9. (SBU) Four witnesses claimed to have seen Prosecutor
Ja'afar al-Musawi in Ad-Dujayl on July 8, 2004, at a
celebration marking the failed assassination attempt against
Saddam. Ja'afar denied this allegation and stated that he
has never visited Ad-Dujayl. Defense attorney Kaleel
al-Dolami announced that he had video verifying Ja'afar's
presence at the celebration. On May 31, it was revealed that
the person in the video was not Ja'afar, but rather a local
villager ( Abd al-Aziz Muhammad Bandr) who closely resembles
the prosecutor.


10. (SBU) On May 31, a witness testified that he was brought
to Prosecutor Ja'afar in April 2004 and asked to make false
statements against Saddam. According to the witness, Ja'afar
offered him $500 to testify against Saddam. When Chief Judge
Ra'ouf asked the witness if he was reciting memorized
testimony, the witness responded that he was not. Ja'afar
asserted that, over the previous two days (May 30-31),there
had been "a fabricated" attack on the prosecution panel.
Ja'afar demanded that the court lodge a complaint against
this witness, who he says was taught what to say. In
response to this and the revelation that Ja'afar was not the
person in the video, Judge Ra'ouf ordered all four witnesses
who attacked Prosecutor Ja'afar detained on suspicion of
perjury.

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DETAINMENT AND HEARING OF PERJURED WITNESSES
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11. (S) The four witnesses whom the court detained were
Mohammad A. Alwan, Khalid A. Mohammad, Khamees M. Theab, and
Kareem Y. Matar. On June 2, Judge Ra'ouf agreed to release
each witness on bail of fifteen million Iraqi dinars. That
afternoon, IHT Police Captain Amar Jassem Hashem stated that
one detained witness (Kareem Y. Matar) had informed him that
he had testified under duress and that another witness
(Mohammad Alwan) had threatened to kill Kareem's family if he
refused to testify on behalf of Saddam.


12. (S) The IHT decided to conduct a full investigative
hearing into the perjury and duress allegations. Judge Basil
presided over the hearing; Prosecutor Sammy served as the
prosecutor; and IHT Defense Attorney Mazen represented the
witnesses. Mohammad Alwan stated that all the witnesses who
testified on behalf of Saddam Hussein had been coached,
adding that (contrary to his testimony) he was not from
Dujayl, had never traveled to Dujayl, and had never met
Prosecutor Ja'afar. Alwan claimed that Saddam loyalists
detained him and his family for seventeen days in Tikrit
because he worked for an American security company.
According to Alwan, those holding him would have executed his
family if he had not agreed to testify on behalf of Saddam.


13. (S) Alwan testified further that (after agreeing to
testify) he and his family were taken to Damascus, Syria,
where a former lieutenant of Saddam Hussein, Ahmed
Al-Hadushi, held them. Alwan stated that a former Saddam
bodyguard named Abu Omar provided him with written notes
about what to say in court. Kaleel al-Dolami was present at
this meeting, Alwan said, and told him to follow Abu Omar's
instructions carefully or that his family would suffer.
Alwan claimed that all of Saddam's witnesses had traveled to
Damascus to receive similar instructions and that all of
their testimony was also fabricated. Alwan added that all of
Saddam's witnesses were promised jobs, money, and safe
passage to Syria in exchange for saying something negative
about Prosecutor Ja'afar and something positive about Saddam
Hussein.


14. (S) Each of the other witnesses (Khalid A. Mohammad,
Khamees M. Theab, and Kareem Y. Matar) echoed Mohammad
Alwan's statement. They stated that they were transported to
Syria and that Abu Omar and Kaleel Al-Dolami provided them
with written instructions about what to say in court. Khalid

A. Mohammad and Khamees M. Theab stated that al-Dolami
provided each of them with a list of names and ordered them
to claim in open court that the people listed are alive even
though the RCCC had ordered them executed.


15. (S) The hearing concluded when each witness signed a
written statement, which they reviewed and altered in the
presence of their attorney, confessing to perjury. The notes
that the witnesses had used at trial and their passports were
copied by the IHT for use at a subsequent perjury trial and
for the eventual Ad-Dujayl judgment.


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16. (S) On June 5, Judge Ra'ouf agreed to release the perjury
defendants on bail of three million Iraqi dinars. All four
witnesses were transported to an IHT safe house inside the
International Zone to keep them separate from defense
counsel. The four requested transport to Amman, Jordan, and
(with the knowledge and consent of Judge Basil) they were
taken June 8 to Baghdad International Airport and flown to to
Jordan.

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NEXT SESSIONS: DEFENSE CASE NEARLY COMPLETE
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17. (SBU) Proceedings are scheduled to reconvene on June 12
with witnesses for Barzan, Ramadan, and Awad Bandar scheduled
to appear. Sessions are expected to be held for three days,
which likely will mark the end of the defense case and the
close of the evidentiary phase of the trial. Next, the court
likely will schedule closing arguments and final statements
from the defendants before adjourning for 30-90 days to
deliberate and draft a written verdict and sentence.
KHALILZAD