The Iraqi court that sentenced Saddam Hussein to death this month was flawed and its verdict was unsound, a New York-based human rights group said Sunday.

"Serious administrative, procedural and substantive legal defects" prevented the deposed Iraqi dictator from getting a fair trial on charges of crimes against humanity, Human Rights Watch says in a 91-page report.

Saddam Hussein on the first day of his second trial in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, in August 2006.
Daniel Berehulak/Associated Press

In 40 days of proceedings over the past 12 months, 70 witnesses testified against Saddam and his seven co-defendants, and about 1,000 pages of documents were presented as evidence.

Hussein and his co-defendants faced charges related to the deaths of more than 140 people, who were killed in a reprisal attack that followed an assassination attempt on Saddam in the mainly Shia town of Dujail in 1982.

Judges lacked legal training and awareness of international standards for conducting court proceedings, Human Rights Watch says in its report. 

A judge who frequently argued with defence lawyers and witnesses was singled out for criticism in the report. As well, the Iraqi government was accused of trying to influence the process with frequent statements about Saddam's former regime.

Human Rights Watch said defence lawyers did not receive important prosecution information, paperwork was frequently lost and no written transcript of the trial was kept.

Death sentence 'indefensible'

The report describes the court as "an institution struggling with all aspects of conducting these legally and factually complicated trials, beset by external problems: misunderstanding and hostility in public opinion and from political leaders' grave and increasing security threats to all participants." 

Three defence lawyers were murdered during the trial, and the first chief judge resigned.

"Under such circumstances," the report concludes, "the soundness of the verdict is questionable. In addition, the imposition of the death penalty — an inherently cruel and inhumane punishment — in the wake of unfair trial is indefensible."

Human Rights Watch says an important opportunity to hold a cruel dictator accountable for his crimes was squandered.

The organization says Hussein should have faced an international tribunal but that is opposed by Washington, which demanded an Iraqi court try him. 

The former dictator is also being tried on other charges related to the deaths of around 180,000 ethnic Kurds in the late 1980s.