Mr Bandar said the men received a fair trial

IRAQ. EX-SADDAM JUDGE: DEATH SENTENCES LEGAL

March 13, 2006: Awad al-Bandar, a former judge from Saddam Hussein's regime, admitted to sentencing 148 Shiites to death in the 1980s, but maintained they received a fair trial and had confessed to trying to assassinate the former Iraqi leader.
The former Iraqi leader and seven regime officials were charged with killing the 148
Shiites, as well as illegal imprisonment and torture of hundreds of others in the crackdown launched after Saddam's motorcade was fired on as it passed through the Shiite town of Dujail in 1982. They faced possible execution by hanging if convicted.
The head of the Revolutionary Court, Al-Bandar, came under tough questioning from chief judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman and chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Moussawi over the conduct of the 1984 trial.
Al-Bandar acknowledged he sentenced the Shiites to death but said their trial was conducted ``in accordance with the law.''
He said all confessed to their role in the attack and that they were given a two-trial that they attended, with lawyers.
``How did you take the testimonies of 148 persons that quickly?'' the judge asked him.
``We were at war with Iran, and they confessed that they did their act at orders coming from Iran,'' al-Bandar said.
Al-Moussawi presented documents from the Mukhabarat intelligence agency at the time stating that some of the 148 died during interrogation before they could be executed. He repeatedly asked al-Bandar how all the defendants could have appeared before the Revolutionary Court if some had already died.
Al-Bandar insisted all 148 were there, but finally threw up his hands, saying:, ``Is it so strange and surprising that someone might die in interrogation?'' ``This shows that the defendants themselves were not referred before the court, only their papers. And the death sentences were based solely on those papers,'' al-Moussawi argued. (Sources: AP, 13/03/2006)