Saddam Hussein was formally found guilty in an Iraqi criminal court yesterday and has received the death sentence for therepression of a Shiite town north of Baghdad in the 1980s. University law students in "The Iraqi Tribunal Clinic" course are currently assisting the tribunal that passed down the verdict throughout the semester.
"Much of the work we've done in the class can be seen reflected in the verdict and much of what we're currently doing will reflect in what the tribunal will say after," said visiting University Law Prof. Linda Malone, teacher of the tribunal clinic course.
Malone is one of three law professors working in the U.S. Department of Justice Regime Crime Liaison Office, which advises the Iraqi tribunal judges in their decisions, including deliberations over former Iraqi President Hussein's sentencing.
A law professor at the College of William & Mary's Marshall-Wythe School of Law, Malone teaches "The Iraqi Tribunal Clinic" at the University Law School this year and also oversees students who are acting as law clerks to the Iraqi judges.
Three years after his capture by U.S. troops, Hussein's execution will be delayed further because of the appeals process, Malone said.
"He cannot be executed until his appeals are exhausted," Malone said. "The process could take many months and probably will so it'll probably be spring of next year before his execution."
Third-year Law student Justin Bernick downplayed the effect of his class's work.
"The work we're doing doesn't relate to this current trial," Bernick said.
Second-year Law student Kristin Flood said while she wasn't working on the issues involved in the trial, others in the class were.
"There are other students doing death penalty issues," Flood said.
Neither said they were involved heavily on Hussein's case since it is closed.
"All the work we're doing has to do with ongoing trials," Bernick said.
Malone explained that next semester, when the course will be offered again, students will have a chance to work on issues related to these current developments.
"The current students' work will have a direct impact on future developments," Malone said, adding she could not be more specific because of attorney-client confidentiality, but she is still looking forward to the opinions of the tribunal on their basis of the verdicts.
-- Editor's note: Justin Bernick was the editor-in-chief of The Cavalier Daily in 2003 and 2004.
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