Saddam to be handed to Iraqis for trial
The head of Iraq’s war-crimes tribunal said today that the United States had pledged to hand over Saddam Hussein and about 100 other suspects to Iraqi authorities before July 1, when Iraq assumes sovereignty from its US-led occupiers.
Salem Chalabi said that trials would begin early next year, and that judges would receive “files” on the suspects at the end of this year.
“We will put 100 people … including Saddam Hussein, on trial,” he said. The suspects, he added, “will be delivered to us by the coalition before the transfer of power”.
He said the suspects to be handed over include Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as “Chemical Ali” for his use of chemical weapons against the Kurds in the 1980s. Chalabi has said al-Majid could be one of the first to stand trial.
Tariq Aziz, Saddam’s former deputy prime minister, also will be handed over, he said. Aziz is in US custody but he is not on the US “most-wanted” list and it was unclear what charges he might face.
US officials, who are holding Saddam in an undisclosed location, have said they will turn him over to the tribunal, set up to try him and other leaders of his former government. In April, that tribunal appointed judges and prosecutors.
No charges have yet been filed, but human rights groups have said the tribunal expects to try leaders for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The United States estimates that Saddam’s government killed at least 300,000 Iraqis during its rule. Some human rights groups say the number is closer to a million.
It was not clear who will represent Saddam at his trial, but a Jordanian lawyer, Mohammad Rashdan, has said he and 19 other lawyers have been appointed by Saddam’s first wife, Sajida Khairallah Telfah.
Iraqi leaders have said the trials will be televised in the interest of exposing Saddam’s atrocities and beginning a process of national healing.
Saddam was captured on December 13 hiding in a hole in the small farming village of Adwar, a short drive from his hometown of Tikrit.
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