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Iraqis Given Legal Custody of Saddam
By FISNIK ABRASHI, Associated Press Writer BAGHDAD, Iraq - The United States turned Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) and 11 of his deputies over to Iraqi legal custody on Wednesday, an official said, the first step toward trying the former dictator on charges expected to include the massacre of Kurds in 1988 and the invasion of Kuwait two years later.
Saddam will remain in an American-controlled jail guarded by Americans until
the Iraqis are ready to take physical custody of him. That is expected to take a
long time, and a trial isn't likely for several months.
The defendants were informed individually of their rights, an international
official said on condition of anonymity. An Iraqi judge witnessed the
proceedings.
There was no official confirmation from Iraqi authorities, though Prime
Minister Iyad Allawi had said that the legal transfer of the 12 defendants would
take place Wednesday. They were to appear in court on Thursday for a formal
reading of the charges.
"The first step has happened," Salem Chalabi, the director of the Iraqi
Special Tribunal that will try Saddam, told The Associated Press. He refused to
elaborate. "I met with him (Saddam) earlier today to explain his rights and what
will happen," Chalabi said.
The crimes against humanity for which Saddam is expected to be tried include
the 1988 chemical weapons massacre of Kurds in Halabja, the slaughter of Shiites
during a 1991 uprising in southern Iraq (news
- web
sites), the 1990 invasion of Kuwait and the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.
The legal transfer means that Saddam and the others are no longer prisoners
of war � subject to rights under the Geneva Conventions � but criminal
defendants whose treatment will be in accordance with Iraqi law.
Already there are pretrial negotiations over permitting Saddam's foreign
legal team to work in Iraq, whether to televise the proceedings and whether to
reinstate the death penalty, which was suspended by American occupation chief L.
Paul Bremer.
Mouwafak al-Rubaie, Iraq's new national security adviser, said Wednesday that
the Iraqi Special Tribunal would be able to impose the death penalty. He said
Saddam would not be allowed to turn the trial into a political game, by calling
witnesses such as U.S. President George Bush or British Prime Minister Tony
Blair (news
- web
sites).
"Saddam Hussein will be under the legal control of Iraqi law," he told
British Broadcasting Corp. radio. "He is going to be tried according to the
Iraqi criminal code."
The process of preparing for Saddam's trial come at an extremely difficult
time. U.S. administrators turned over power to a sovereign Iraqi government only
Monday. Allawi's government faces a relentless insurgency, and 160,000 U.S.-led
foreign troops will remain.
Iraqi officials insist Saddam and the others will get fair trials. Hamid
al-Bayati, Iraq's new deputy foreign minister and a leader of the main Shiite
Muslim party, said there was "no chance at all" that Saddam might walk out a
free man, perhaps on a legal technicality.
"The whole world will see this," said al-Bayati, who said he was tortured in
Saddam's prisons in the 1970s. "He won't be able to walk free."
He noted that Saddam's victims are estimated in the hundreds of thousands or
more, which means a huge segment of the 26 million Iraqis want to watch him
answer for those crimes.
But the trial could contribute to the upheaval in Iraq by polarizing Saddam's
supporters and detractors, said Walid Mohammed al-Shibibi, a Baghdad attorney
and editor of a legal journal.
"This will escalate into terrorist attacks," he said.
Chalabi said the trials of Saddam and other senior figures likely would not
begin before 2005. Some suspects could be indicted in the autumn but "the senior
ones will not be indicted for some time," he told CNN. "Then after that ... the
trials would start maybe in a few months further down the line."
Chalabi said Thursday's appearance at the tribunal, in a courthouse with a
prominent clock tower inside Baghdad's sealed-off Green Zone, is expected to be
filmed for public release.
The images would be the first of Saddam the public will have seen since
Saddam's Dec. 13 capture by U.S. soldiers, when a clip showed the bushy-bearded
leader opening his mouth for a dental examination.
Upon their arraignment, the dozen U.S. military detainees will be given the
status of Iraqi criminal suspects, which gives them the right to attorneys or
appointed counsel, Chalabi said.
The first batch of Saddam's lieutenants to face the tribunal include Ali
Hassan al-Majid, also known as "Chemical Ali"; former Vice President Taha Yassin
Ramadan; former deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz; and two of Saddam's half
brothers.
A team of 20 foreign lawyers appointed by Saddam's wife Sajidah might not be
permitted to represent him, al-Shibibi said.
The only foreign lawyers permitted to defend Iraqis without special
permission are Palestinians and Syrians, he said. Others must seek approval from
the Iraqi Bar Association, he said.
The job of trying and representing Saddam involves personal risk.
Ziad al-Khasawneh, one of Saddam's would-be defense attorneys, said in Amman,
Jordan, that the defense team planned to go to Iraq but that Allawi's government
had not said whether it would provide security.
"How can the defense team go to a country where it doesn't enjoy any
protection? They will kill us there," said an angry al-Khasawneh.
Al-Shibibi said there are Iraqi lawyers who would agree to represent the
dictator. Few would consent to release their identities, nor for that matter,
would prosecutors, he said. Already, lawyers working in Iraq's justice system
have received death threats.
The proceedings will rely on a mix of Iraqi criminal law, international
regulations such as the Geneva Conventions and experiences of bodies such as the
Rwanda war crimes tribunal.
As much as 30 tons of documents and other evidence must be culled. And then
there are the potential witnesses, which could be said to include almost every
Iraqi.
"If I'm asked to testify I would be willing," al-Bayati said. "But there are
so many others who suffered more. There are more serious eyewitnesses."
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