BBC: Trial warning for Idi Amin (He is not dead yet!)

[IndianaGreen]

Last Updated: Tuesday, 22 July, 2003, 02:36 GMT 03:36 UK

Trial warning for Idi Amin

A senior Ugandan official has said that ailing former military leader Idi Amin will face trial if he returns from exile.

The Ugandan political party he ousted in 1971 is among those calling for him to be allowed to return from Saudi Arabia to die in his homeland.

Idi Amin, whose 1971 to 1979 regime was one of the bloodiest in African history, reportedly remains in a coma after four days on a life support machine.

An international human rights group has voiced regret that he may die now at liberty instead of in prison.

"We regret that Idi Amin is dying without meeting justice for his crimes," said Reed Brody, director of special prosecutions at Human Rights Watch (HRW).

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3085565.stm

[Jack Rabbit]

1. Grotesque

Idi had a way bringing out the grotesque in all of us. While he was a butcher, he was good copy for the press. I felt often a sense of vertigo reading his darkly humorous remarks and contrasting them with the realities of his reign or terror.

As he lays dying, he still works his spell. Some have spoken today as if they would like to put Idi on life support just so they can hang him. It's grotesque. And I can't say I don't understand. After all, I feel exactly the same way.

We will never be free of Idi. He will always lurk in the dark shadows of each of our minds.

[wtmusic]

2. My very own Idi Amin story

I went to Kenya in 1973 as a tagalong on my mom's business trip. We flew via Athens and Monrovia, and as we were flying over Uganda suddenly there appeared outside the windows of our Pan Am 747 two Ugandan Air Force fighter jets, each 100 meters off our wingtips.

Our plane was being forced down, as I learned from the pilot later, for "trespassing Ugandan airspace without permission" (permission had indeed been granted in formal treaties, but Mr. Amin was subject to very whimsical and volatile interpretation of treaties).

We landed in Entebbe and waited three hours in the airport surrounded by Ugandan soldiers with AK-47s, in sweltering 108-degree heat and flies so thick that breathing was difficult. Then suddenly--mysterious diplomatic efforts taking place in mysterious locations had set us free. We boarded our plane and continued on to Nairobi.

It was all very grand adventure for a fifteen-year-old, and it wasn't until somewhat later that I learned of Mr. Amin's penchant for brutal and often deadly intimidation.

[Wonder]

3. oh sure AFTER he killed 100s of thousands of his own people...

what a little longer and his conviction will be posthumorous, is that the word. Surreal it is. They could not have stopped him? I guess there were no suspicions of WMD... so he could do what he wanted.

"We regret that Idi Amin is dying without meeting justice for his crimes," said Reed Brody, director of special prosecutions at Human Rights Watch (HRW)."

yeah and how many others seem to fall through the cracks that are renowned leaders of states and countries.

[Ediacara]

4. hmmm

There was a report earlier today that he was definately dead, but as of 3:00AM edt the BBC still has this, not-yet-dead, article up....

[Maeve]

5. We're into a "Generalissimo Franco" storyline--where's Chevy Chase?

Amin should have stood trial for his crimes decades ago.

[Lurking Dem]

6. Was it Garret Morris? <sp>

Who used to do that bit on SNL, "This is Idi....VD....Amin..."?

Those were the days.