<< The judge, Zuhair al-Maliky, graduated as a lawyer three years ago, and
was promoted to a senior judicial investigator after active lobbying by an
American member of the occupation administration led by Paul Bremer, legal
analysts in Baghdad said.
The leap from student to junior investigative judge to the country's
senior investigative judge has amazed the Iraqi legal profession, including
numerous Iraqi lawyers who have returned to Iraq since Saddam's ouster. >>
The Washington Times
August 13, 2004
Chalabi pressed for 'show trial'
By Paul Martin
LONDON - Salem Chalabi, the Iraqi lawyer running the special tribunal
charged with trying Saddam Hussein, claimed yesterday that some Iraqi
government officials were seeking a "show trial" and quick execution of the
ousted dictator.
Murder charges filed against him this week were brought by persons who
object to his meticulous and rights-driven approach to Saddam's trial, Mr.
Chalabi said in an interview.
Senior Iraqi officials "have been trying to pressurize me to do things
differently," he said at his elegant London apartment in the upscale Sloane
Square district.
"Ministers have told me they want Saddam dead as a way to break the
hopes of the Sunni insurgents and dampen down the violence," he said.
He added that "a very senior minister - not the prime minister himself"
had told him that the tribunal must not allow Saddam and his men to use
their hearings as a stage to "put on trial the current ministers, not the
old regime."
"They feel that allowing an independent, fair trial to move forward with
its own dynamic at its own pace may not merge well with the political
scene," he said.
The country's chief investigative judge issued arrest warrants on Sunday
for Mr. Chalabi and his uncle, Ahmed Chalabi, a former Pentagon favorite who
stands accused of possessing counterfeit Iraqi dinars.
Ahmed Chalabi, head of the Iraqi National Congress - a multiethnic
grouping of former Iraqi exiles - returned from a visit to Iran on Wednesday
to face the charges.
A secular member of the majority but previously repressed Shi'ite
community, Mr. Chalabi has taken shelter in northern Iraq. There, he is
under the protection of one of the two main Kurdish leaders, Jalal Talabani,
The Washington Times has learned.
The Iraqi government announced yesterday it was "suspending" any
prosecution of the charges against Ahmed Chalabi pending further
investigations.
"There was and there is now no intention to carry out any measure in
this regard until finalizing the legal measures," Interior Ministry
spokesman Sabah Kadhim said.
In the London interview, Salem Chalabi sought to throw doubt on the
motives and qualifications of the judge who issued the arrest warrants.
The judge, Zuhair al-Maliky, graduated as a lawyer three years ago, and
was promoted to a senior judicial investigator after active lobbying by an
American member of the occupation administration led by Paul Bremer, legal
analysts in Baghdad said.
The leap from student to junior investigative judge to the country's
senior investigative judge has amazed the Iraqi legal profession, including
numerous Iraqi lawyers who have returned to Iraq since Saddam's ouster.
"I think he may want to leapfrog himself to prominence, and to have his
own criminal court take over the prosecution of the former Iraqi regime
figures," Mr. Chalabi suggested.
