Trial of Saddam Hussein

thumb|300 px| Saddam Hussein sits before an Iraqi judge at a courthouse in Baghdad, 1 July 2004.The Trial of Saddam Hussein was the trial of the deposed President of Iraq Saddam Hussein by the Iraqi Interim Government for crimes against humanity during his time in office.

The Coalition Provisional Authority voted to create the Iraqi Special Tribunal (IST), consisting of five Iraqi judges, on 9 December 2003, to try Saddam Hussein and his aides for charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.

The trial was viewed in some quarters as a kangaroo court or show trial. Amnesty International stated that the trial was "unfair," and Human Rights Watch noting that Saddam's execution "follows a flawed trial and marks a significant step away from the rule of law in Iraq."

Saddam was captured on December 13, 2003. He remained in custody by US forces at Camp Cropper in Baghdad, along with eleven senior Ba'athist officials. Particular attention was paid during the trial to activities in violent campaigns against the Kurds in the north during the Iran–Iraq War, against the Shiites in the south in 1991 and 1999 to put down revolts, and in Dujail after a...
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