New Bloodcurdling Facts About Adam’s Case [Archives:2000/36/Reportage]
September 4 2000
Before beginning of the session, the court’s judge Yahya al-Aslami, the two German experts and an interpreter held a closed-door meeting. Lawyers of the victims, Hussn Ahmad Atiyah, Yemeni, and Zainab Sawood, Iraqi, withdrew from the court session. Ismail al-Dailami, lawyer of Hussn, stated that he withdrew from the session in protest for not allowing him to join the closed-door meeting which lasted for almost an hour.
On the other hand, the judge said that the session was late due to absence of the interpreter who was assigned by the court.
Lawyer Abdulhamid Ali, Emirian, joined lately to defend the Iraqi victim’s family, also withdrew from the session.
The Germans’ final report indicated that there were 133 corpses with ages ranging between 5 to 20 years. The report divided them to two main divisions: 18 complete corpses found in the morgue of the Medical Faculty and 115 corpses which were the outcomes of cut off limbs. The German expert stated that he could not make even one complete body of these torn off limbs revealing that Hussn was killed due to hitting her head against a wall. He said “She was injected with anesthetic or was choked to death.”
According to the final report, she was scientifically torn to pieces. However, Zainab was hit with a tool on her head leading to her death. After that she was stuffed in a narrow place for 72 hours before she was taken out and was torn into pieces using an electric saw. The final report disregarded the idea of raping Hussn. However, it indicated that it was not possible to rule this out in case of Zainab as her reproductive system was not found. Besides, there are not any signs on the body that could prove her being raped. It was also indicated in the report that the internal organs of Zainab were also missing and that the hairs found beneath her finger nail belonged to her. However, nothing was missing from Hussn’s body.
As regards the date of their death, the German expert said it was pretty hard to precisely define that then, for tests conducted on the D.N.A. which were taken from the bodies, have not finished yet.
However, he said that Hussn died not more than two months before the crime was discovered. This means that she had been kept in a place for more than six months before she was murdered. The German expert based his conclusion on the fact that her body was still fresh during examinations conducted on her body. If the idea, that she was kept in a refrigerator, is correct, this will mean that she has been taken out of it three months ago so to justify her body being fresh. It is better to ask the security if they noticed anything suspicious during the time of her disappearance, they stated. The German expert concluded his report saying that tests conducted on fingerprints have not resulted in anything so far owing to the long span of time that they take ranging between a month and a year. He also indicated that it was difficult to define the bodies using fingerprints due to different circumstances that the bodies were exposed to, especially as the crime scene was not kept as it was to keep the fingerprints as they were. Moreover, bodies were sprinkled with formalin.
Dr. Mohammed al-Khatib, Adam’s lawyer, requested Adam to say the truth asserting that the truth was not yet disclosed. He told Adam that he had to help him and that he could do nothing if he kept silent. However, Adam remained as silent. The only phrase that he uttered was “judge, why do you still keep my wife in prison?”
Dr. al-khatib, Adam’s lawyer, threatened more than once to withdraw from the case unless he was permitted to interview the defendant. A heated debate was witnessed between Dr. al-Khatib and lawyer of the university Dr. Hassan Mujali and the prosecution which used to refute all that was presented by lawyers.
1) To book the suit to announce a judgment on his appeal.
2) To reject any suit against the university until the punitive suit is over.
3) Forcing the plaintiffs to compensate for the material and moral damage against the university and university staff.
4) His sticking to ask for all the previously mentioned requests.
The German experts asked while presenting the final report for their allowances. They noted that they have spent more than 30,000 DM. We have received nothing so far, they said.
The session was over with the following report:
1) Translating the final German report.
2) Making copies of the appeal presented by the university lawyer to the lawyer of victim’s family, Hussn.
3) Requesting the Minister of Justice to allocate the money of the two Germans from the budget of the government.
4) Complaining to the Lawyers’ Syndicate in regard to the conduct of lawyer Ismail al-Dailami in the session when he instigate other lawyers to withdraw from the session.
5) Adjourning the session to last Sunday.
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