info@uuiraq.org

 

 

The Baath regime was one of the most oppressive regimes ever seen in the contemporary world. It exceeded Hitler’s era and the other darkest eras in human history. This regime was unrestrained in committing the most horrifying crimes to protect its interests and achieve its political objectives. It was implicated in killing hundreds of thousands of people in Iraq. It was a regime which savagely butchered its opponents. Even the most loyal senior Baathists were not saved from its violence and oppression. Any protest by workers, political freedom advocates and freedom loving people was confronted with an iron fist. Over 3 decades of rule, the Baathist regime practised the worst forms of chauvinism including the policy of Arabisation, and compulsory expulsion. Its regime savagely oppressed the population in Kurdistan. It conducted a gory war against them and ethnically cleansed thousands. This regime committed genocide, created mass graves, and adopted a scorched earth policy. It carried out the notorious operation of Anfal where 182000 human beings disappeared and their fate is yet to be revealed, chemically attacked Halapcha and the marshes, destroyed thousands of villages and towns and dried up the marshes in the south.

This regime militarized the whole society and participated in reactionary wars, which claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi workers and toilers. Moreover, it threw thousands of children into the furnace of its reactionary and endless wars where the majority lost their lives. This regime raped and killed thousands of women in Iraq. It beheaded hundreds of women forced under appalling living condition to work as sex workers. It denied any responsibility for providing a minimum level of security and living standards. It denied political freedoms, and civil and individual rights. It imposed compulsory Baathisation. Its response to workers’ demands for their basic rights such as the freedom to strike, hold public gatherings and to form organizations was savage suppression, imprisonment and executions. It employed all forms of political reaction including reviving chauvinist, sectarian, and tribal sentiments and traditions. Under this regime’s rule, society was turned into a kingdom of horror and fear. The vast majority of the population suffered from this evil. The reign of the Baathist regime was nothing but a terrifying nightmare.

 

The regime’s gory reign came to an end. However the Iraqi masses’ case against this regime has not yet been heard. The Iraqi masses have not won their rights and accomplished their objective. The Iraqi masses are looking forward to seeing Saddam and other figures of his regime put on trial. The leaders of this regime must answer for untold crimes they committed. This demand by the masses is a very fair and legitimate demand. Our objective behind a trial is not revenge but revealing the truth to the masses in Iraq and worldwide. Thus we lay a strong foundation to prevent this movement and its dark tradition and politics from gaining a footing among people.

 

We the undersigned, announce a campaign to realize the demand of the masses of people in Iraq to put Saddam and leaders of Baath regime on trial. This campaign is based on the principles outline in (On the Demand to Try Saddam Hussein and Other Baathist Leaders) issued in the middle of March 2004 against Saddam and leaders of Baathist leaders.

 

The aim of this campaign is for the people of Iraq to win their rights. Saddam is not an ordinary criminal.  He represents a complete historic period full of hardships, tragedies and crimes. He represents a political and social movement. The secrets of this period and all the participants responsible for its crimes, must be revealed to the masses. The Pan-Arab tendency and movement was the political movement which stood behind the chauvinistic ideas and practices of the Baath regime. We seek the establishment of a truth-revealing court to save the masses from having to live through such a nightmare again. These deep wounds will not heal unless the truth is unearthed and the real perpetrators are identified.

 

We seek to try Saddam Hussein in an International Court. The current situation in Iraq presents too many obstacles to the establishment of a court that can fulfill the objectives mentioned above. These obstacles include the US occupation, the presence of an illegitimate authority-the Governing Council, the provisional constitution which incorporates capital punishment and life imprisonment, the absence of the most basic requirements to reveal truth and transparency, and so on.

 

We call upon all those effected by the suppression of the Baathist regime, and those who have a case against this regime, whether inside Iraq or abroad, to contact any of our branches in various Iraqi cities or the address provided below.

 

People who lost their loved ones, and whose rights and freedoms were violated by this regime should join this campaign. Any document that reveals any of the crimes of this regime is of great importance for the success of this campaign and to achieving the aspirations of the masses in building a free, more secure future and in eliminating the foundation of oppression and tyranny. 

 

We call upon all organizations, parties, and associations, and all working class, freedom-loving and humanist people worldwide to support our campaign and the demands of people in Iraq to put Saddam and the leaders of his deposed regime on trial, and to support the Iraqi masses in building a better future. We call upon all Iraqi forces, parties, and organizations, and all political, humanist and freedom-loving individuals to join our campaign to strengthen the camp which is for building a more humane society, free of tyranny and suppression.

 

 

 

 

 

Putting Saddam and other Baath’s leaders on trial is the demand of the masses of people in Iraq. At the same time, struggle to achieve this demand is one of the fields of struggle to erase the consequences of suppression, and oppression by the former regime and to heal the wounds it left on the lives of people in Iraq and the region. Realizing this demand will help the people to struggle for freedom and their welfare. Therefore, we struggle to achieve this demand and we present here an outline of principles and procedures for the trial of Saddam and other Baath leaders:

 

First: The demand to try Saddam Hussein and other Baath leaders by the Iraqi masses is a just and legitimate demand because these were leaders of a savage regime of the Arab nationalist movement, which imposed its oppressive and bloody rule on the people in Iraq for 35 years with an iron fist. The people in Iraq, various Iraqi organizations and political parties and international organizations have hundreds of documents that incriminate Saddam Hussein and his regime for the following crimes:

·        Brutal oppression of the working class and the denial of its basic rights, blood baths against the communist, labour and left movement, and mass executions of labour and communist leaders.

·        Bloody oppression against the Iraqi masses and violation of their basic rights and civil and political freedoms.

·        Tampering with the society’s resources and stealing them.

·        Imposing the worst kinds of sexual discrimination and the most reactionary traditions and laws on women in Iraq. Denying their most basic rights, raping thousands of women and launching campaigns of mass murder against women including beheading them.

·        Committing the most savage crimes against children, by forcing them to join the army and various military forces, sending them to its war frontlines, torturing and executing them, perpetrating mass killings against them.  Depriving millions of children from their basic daily rights and requirements of a decent life.

·        Committing genocide, using chemical weapons and perpetrating mass executions. Using chemicals in Halabje and the notorious Anfal operation are two examples of genocide.

·        Participating in reactionary wars and launching a suppressive war against the masses in Kurdistan and in the south of Iraq. These wars had resulted in the killing of hundreds of thousands of human beings and the destruction of tens of thousands of living and working places.

·        Adopting fascist policies such as ethnic cleansing, Arabization, Baathisation and forcefully displacing thousands of people.

 

Second: the crimes of Saddam Hussein and his regime, which resulted in victimizing millions of Iraqis over thirty-five years, are the crimes of a political regime that belongs to Arab nationalist movement. Thus, the objective behind their trial is to politically try Arab nationalist movement and its fascist regimes in order to unearth the truth and unmask the crimes, practices and the dark and criminal essence of this movement to the masses in Iraq, the region and the world. A public and just trial for Saddam Hussein and Baathist leaders would give the masses the opportunity to reach the truth of Pan-Arab tendency and its ethnocentric regimes.

 

 

Third: Saddam Hussein and his regime, as an Arab nationalist regime through practicing absurd chauvinism in Iraq have established a bloody history for themselves. This regime has caused deep and serious wounds in human society and in particular the society of Iraq and the Middle East. The eradication of the consequences left by this regime, and the final closure of the Arab nationalist movement’s dossier are crucial to keep the people in Iraq from nationalistic and tribal conflicts and to cure the wounds sustained by the society.

 

Fourth: the Arab nationalist movement seeks to define Saddam and the Baath leaders to the millions in Arab countries as heroes who “defended the Arab land, waters, and wealth against the occupiers, struggled against the partition of Arab homeland and protected Arabic sanctities”. If the truth behind this deception is not revealed, Saddam Hussein and the Baath’s story will remain for upcoming years a tool in the hands of Arab ethnocentric regimes and movements to intensify fascism and escalate ethnocentric hatred and conflicts and will continue this deception ceaselessly. 

 

Fifth: neither the USA nor the Governing Council enjoys the right and authority to try Saddam and Baath leaders. Apart from the absence of legality, neither represents the people in Iraq on this issue, not to mention that they are partners in crimes committed against the people in Iraq. They are accused of helping Saddam in his crimes against the Iraqi masses. The USA had helped this regime for a long time, launched two bloody wars that resulted in the death of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, and imposed  13-years of sanctions, which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands and the collapse of civil life. The USA destroyed the infrastructure of society and thus deprived the masses of the most basic necessities of life and caused untold tragedies. In the end it brought about the current unfolding dark scenario, which has thrown Iraqi society into a state of chaos, uncertainty and continuous turmoil and upheaval.

 As for the Governing Council, in addition to the majority of its members’ collaboration with the Baathist regime and their role in strengthening its fascist authority, it has for 13 years supported US anti-human policies of waging war, bombardment, manslaughter and the imposition of sanctions. If Saddam’s trial is to be conducted by the USA and the Governing Council, it means the truth of the regime’s crimes and those who helped it will never be revealed. Thus, the trial will be conducted in a way, which contradicts what the people of Iraq want.

 

Sixth: the trial of Saddam and the Baath leaders should be just and public and according to humanist standards by an international court. These are the preconditions for revealing the truth, healing the wounds and exposing the fascist essence of the Baathist regime and leaders depicted by the Arab nationalist movement as heroes. In this regard the following must be observed.

 

 

1.      The trial should be public and attended by representatives of the people in Iraq and representatives of Iraqi parties, workers’ councils and unions, women’s organizations and intellectuals as plaintiffs against Saddam Hussein and other Baath leaders who should submit their evidence on the crimes committed. The mass media has the right to cover the trial and to communicate its proceedings publicly.

2.      The trial should be conducted according to the most advanced and humanist contemporary standards. The right and the requirements for the defendant to defence must be secured.  Any kind of mental or physical pressure must be prohibited. A sound atmosphere must be ensured during the trial, which must be based on evidence and justice. In addition to the possibility that such a trial will lay out humanist standards for future trials, it will reveal this regime’s fascist essence and  the truth about its leaders, which will deny the Arab nationalist movement any opportunity to falsify the truth and knit heroic stories about Saddam and the Baath leaders, and be conducted in an atmosphere which can satisfy the masses in Iraq, the region and worldwide.

3.       The trial should be conducted in an international court outside Iraq.  Since Iraq is under occupation and under constant terrorist attacks and there are no legitimate government, courts, constitution and civic laws, under the current situation the trial of Saddam Hussein and the Baathist leaders can not be conducted in Iraq based because of the objections detailed above. Conducting this trial in Iraq would result in hiding the truth from the masses and would obstruct the participation of representatives of masses in its proceedings. It would give legitimacy to the US occupation and the Governing Council, which has been formed under the auspices of the USA and against the will of the people in Iraq.

 

We struggle to organize the masses around the demand of trying Saddam Hussein and the Baathist leaders on the bases of this lawsuit. We reaffirm that the independent and united struggle of the masses in Iraq is the only way to achieve such a demand in a humane way that best matches the interest of the masses in Iraq. We call upon all the freedom-loving masses in Iraq, parties and mass organizations to support this lawsuit and unite their struggles for putting on trial Saddam Hussein and the Baathist leaders in order to unearth the true reactionary essence of the Pan-Arab nationalist movement.

 

 

 

 March 2004