Human Rights Watch has said that Saddam Hussein�s trial was so flawed that its verdict is unsound. The group cites “serious administrative, procedural and substantive legal defects” as Saddam�s chief defense lawyer, Khalil al-Dulaimi, says he is now being blocked from filing appeal papers. According to Iraqi law, appeals must be made within a month of sentencing.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch group said the trials were the most important since the Nuremberg trials after World War II. The report said they “represent the first opportunity to create a historical record concerning some of the worst cases of human rights violations, and to begin the process of a methodical accounting of the policies and decisions that give rise to these events.”

The US-led Coalition Provisional Authority decided that the Dujail trial would be held by an Iraqi court in Iraq, ruling out an international tribunal or a mixed Iraqi-international court under UN auspices, the HRW report said. Because Iraqi lawyers and judges had been isolated from international criminal law, this decision resulted in a court that lacked the expertise to prosecute crimes against humanity on its own, the report said.

Defense counsel come under criticism in the report for trying to use the court as a political platform. Meanwhile, the Iraqi government was guilty of influencing the independence of the judges, the report said, to the extent that the first chief judge resigned. “Under such circumstances the soundness of the verdict is questionable,” HRW concludes. “In addition, the imposition of the death penalty - an inherently cruel and inhumane punishment - in the wake of an unfair trial is indefensible.”

The trial was marked by frequent outbursts from both judges and defendants. The original chief judge was replaced, three defense lawyers were murdered, and three out of five judges left the member panel. Defense lawyers boycotted proceedings, and the court-appointed counsel that took their place lacked sufficient training in international law. In addition, important documents were never given to Saddam�s lawyers, no written transcript was kept, and paperwork was often lost. The defense team was also prevented from cross-examining witnesses, while judges made asides that pre-judged Saddam Hussein.

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