Iraq's New Justice Unfolds in a Fortress

[NNN0LHI]

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h1EFDmdvsOfr5bHIalBpTAIq0mFQ

BAGHDAD (AP) — The suspect stood behind the polished wooden bars in the new courtroom. His eyes flitted nervously as the litany of accusations was rattled off: mortar attacks, car bombings, kidnapping and murder — among other crimes linked to his alleged role as an al-Qaida in Iraq fighter.

The 26-year-old Syrian then raised his eyebrows in apparent disbelief when the chief judge read the sentence: death by hanging.

The June trial of Ramzi Ahmed Ismael Muhammad — better known by his nom de guerre, Abu Qatada — was the first at a new high-security complex built as a possible model for reforming Iraq's justice system and countering international allegations of abuses and shortcomings on every level.

But it is also a testament to Iraq's instability and the huge risks facing U.S.-backed efforts to rebuild key institutions. The Law and Order Complex — courthouse, fast-track tribunal, prison and staff living quarters — had to be built as a fortress against the violence and sectarian pressures next door, in Baghdad's Shiite stronghold of Sadr City.

Here, judges live with their families and work behind 12-foot blast barriers. At least 31 judges have been killed in attacks apparently linked to their work since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, according to the Iraqi Higher Judicial Council, the government agency that oversees the courts. snip

Said Arikat, director of the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq, sees signs of attempts "to improve the system and recognize that there is a problem." But he points out that abuses identified by the U.N. group such as forced confessions and torture are usually linked to Interior Ministry facilities where prisoners are held before being sent to places such as the justice complex.

In its annual global survey of human rights practices in March, the U.S. State Department said the Iraqi Defense and Interior Ministries were responsible for "serious" human rights violations, including severe beatings, electrocutions and sexual assaults.

[malaise]

1. What a democracy

WTF?