Court to change judge in Saddam trial: State TV

There was no immediate word on who would replace Judge Abdullah al-Amiri nor why he was replaced.

The chief judge in Saddam Hussein's genocide trial has been replaced, the government spokesman's office confirmed.

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There was no immediate word on who would replace Judge Abdullah al-Amiri nor why he was replaced. The government spokesman's office confirmed that he had been replaced without giving further details.

Al-Iraqiya also did not say why he was replaced, but the pan-Arab satellite stations Al-Arabiya and Al-Jazeera said al-Amiri was replaced at the request of Iraq's prime minister.

Prosecutors had asked for al-Amiri to be replaced after he allowed Saddam to lash out at Kurdish witnesses.

Last week, al-Amiri stirred further controversy after he told the ex-president that "you were not a dictator."