The former President of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, has refused to enter a plea on the opening day of his latest trial where he has been accused of genocide and war crimes.

Saddam wagged his finger in defiance

The trial, which also features six other defendants, relates to an anti-Kurdish offensive in 1987-88, in which 100,000 people are thought to have died. In the absence of a plea, the judge entered a 'not guilty' plea on behalf of Saddam Hussein. However, his defence team have said that the former leader was unable to enter a plea, as he was suffering from 'shock and trauma' after being 'poorly treated' by his captors.

This treatment is understood to have mostly been psychological, and in particular featured Saddam's guards 'dressing as clowns' and 'performing Marx Brothers routines' in front of his private cell.

Unable
Saddam is known to have an intense fear of clowns, and it's thought that the American's in particular were keen to probe this weakness.

Human rights activists have questioned the fairness of the Iraqi judicial system and whether it is right to expose defendants to fast paced humour in anything other than their first language. Meanwhile, the former Iraqi president challenged the legitimacy of the court, as he had done at his previous trial, saying 'I challenge the legitimacy of the court, as I have done at my previous trial.' Chief judge Abdullah al-Amiri's who was sporting a big red nose at the time, snorted as replied 'as I did. As I did.'

For undercover Marine's this is no laughing matter

Death
Prosecutors want the death penalty for Saddam Hussein and two of the seven other defendants in the Dujail case. All denied the charges.

The case reconvenes on 16 October. If Saddam Hussein is convicted and given the death penalty he may still appeal, raising the possibility that any execution could be delayed by years.

'In that situation, it's possible that we'd decide to send in the clowns,' a White House spokesman told us in an off the record conversation.

Scary Spice was unavailable for comment.

Posted by damian at August 21, 2006 11:21 AM