PRESIDENT TALABANI, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER SALIH

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 003966 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/21/2016 TAGS: PGOV PHUM IZ SUBJECT: PRESIDENT TALABANI, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER SALIH WEIGH IN ON SADDAM TRIAL, JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE Classified By: Ambassador Khalilzad for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Kurdish President Talabani and Deputy Prime Minister Salih are critical of what they claim is GOI pressure on judges in the Saddam trial to impose the death penalty, which Kurds oppose before all Saddam's trials are complete. END SUMMARY. -------------- Alleged GOI Pressure -------------- ¶2. (C) In separate meetings on October 16, Kurdish Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih and President Talabani told the Ambassador that they believed the recent GOI moves undercutting judicial independence in the Saddam trial were undermining the international credibility of the court. Salih told the Ambassador that the government is trying to remove a trial chamber judge ostensibly on de-Baathification charges, but in reality because he had indicated he would not call for the death penalty at Saddam Hussein's sentencing for the Dujayl Trial. (COMMENT: If Hussein is sentenced to death in the Dujayl Trial, it is possible that the sentence could be carried out - after a brief appellate process - while the other trials are still ongoing. Many victims of Hussein's crimes, such as the Kurds, do not want his death sentence carried out until they have all had their opportunity to confront him in court. END COMMENT). ¶3. (C) In a separate meeting that same day, President Talabani also claimed that another of the trial judges, Judge Munzir al-Hakim, was given three choices: reverse your decision (and impose the death penalty),be removed on de-Baathification grounds, or be "voluntarily transferred" from the court; Talabani alleged that Judge al-Hakim chose to be transferred. -------------- Kurds Want Saddam Alive for Other Trials -------------- ¶4. (C) In response to the Ambassador's query, Salih claimed that there was no Kurdish management of the Dujayl trial, and that Kurdish Chief Judge for the Dujayl trial Rauf Abd al-Rahman was not actually in charge of the proceedings. Although al-Rahman believed there was sufficient evidence to ask for the death penalty in the Dujayl trial, Salih continued, Kurdistan Regional President and Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) leader Masud Barzani has pressured the court to sentence Hussein only to life imprisonment to ensure that he remains alive to stand trial for the Barzan massacre. ¶5. (C) Talabani also agreed that Kurdish judges are under pressure from other Kurdish leaders to keep Hussein alive and ready to stand trial until all the Kurdish cases against him are heard. Salih lamented the fact that the Anfal Trial could have been a "showcase on Arab tyranny" for the international community. It was now little more than a farce, he stated. KHALILZAD