Iraq tribunal judge assassinated
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-03-02 10:43

An investigating judge in the trial of deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has been assassinated, according to the Associated Press.

U.S. officials originally said Judge Raid Juhi, had been killed, but another judge — one of dozens — was murdered. Details on the assassination and that judge's identity were not immediately available.

Saddam is on trial for war crimes and genocide. The former dictator appeared before a special tribunal in July, where the charges against him were read.

Juhi quite famously stared down a defiant Saddam in the July 1 hearing, firmly reminding the "Butcher of Baghdad" that he was the former, not current, leader of Iraq.

Juhi, who was also presiding over the criminal trials of 11 of Saddam's henchmen, has been living and working under U.S. and Iraqi military protection.

While an obvious target for assassination, Juhi refused to hide in anonymity. In an interview with the New York Times last October, he explained: "There is something very good in Iraqis being able to see that Saddam is gone and that he and other members of his regime now have to face the authority of a judge, of an ordinary man like me."

Close

Today's Top News     Top World News
Hu to address Fortune global forum in Beijing         Beijing seeks best of the best for Olympics         China lashes out at US human rights report         Ease of incorporating opens doors         Foreign agencies to issue renminbi bonds         Access widened for Taiwan farm goods	Saddam's Lawyer says tribunal illegitimate       Suspect said to admit plan to kill Bush       Suit alleges Rumsfeld approved torture       Ukraine to pull out troops from Iraq       Syria might pull army from Lebanon in months       U.S.: Terrorists in Syria bombed Tel Aviv