Judge in Saddam trial stable force
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-01-16 09:05

STABLE FORCE AMID MAYHEM

A slight figure charged with trying one of world's most ruthless leaders in modern times, Amin has presided over a trial that has been upset by the killings of two defence lawyers.

Courtroom dramas have included Saddam's half-brother and former intelligence chief Barzan al-Tikriti spitting at officials and yelling pro-Saddam slogans and Saddam himself tussling with his guards during one recess.

Amin's job is a far cry from a career with humble beginnings in his home city of Sulaimaniya, near the northern Kurdish town of Halabja, where Saddam is expected to be charged with ordering a gas attack that killed 5,000 people in 1988.

People in Sulaimaniya say Amin was known for the same even handedness there that he exhibits in the Saddam trial, standing up to officials in the autonomous region of Kurdistan.

Born in 1957, he graduated from law school in Baghdad in 1980 and worked as an investigating magistrate for 10 years in his home city.

He was promoted to the senior ranks of the judiciary in 1993, after the Kurds had secured virtual independence from Baghdad, and was named to the special tribunal trying Saddam and his supporters in 2004.

Amin's aquiline features, white-haired and with a grey moustache, remained implacable as Saddam has lectured him.

When the trial started, questions were raised about whether his Kurdish identity would prevent him from being impartial.

But three months after Saddam took the stand -- something once unthinkable for Iraqis -- Amin's commitment to a fair trial free of government interference may be prompting him to walk away from the most important job of his life.