Saddam trial ‘to start in October’
Iraqi authorities plan to put Saddam Hussein on trial within five days after the October 15 referendum on the new constitution, an official close to the proceedings said tonight.
“Saddam’s trial will start right after the October referendum between October 16 and at the latest October 20,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. He is not authorised to make any official announcements.
The official spoke after government spokesman Laith Kubba announced that Iraq had carried out its first executions since Saddam was ousted in 2003. Three men were hanged at 10am in a Baghdad prison for murdering three policemen.
US officials scrapped the death penalty in 2003 but Iraqi authorities reinstated it after the transfer of sovereignty so they would have the option of executing Saddam if he is convicted of crimes committed during his regime.
European Union countries have distanced themselves from legal proceedings against Saddam, refusing to provide forensic and other assistance, because of the prospect that Saddam may be executed.
Iraqi authorities plan a series of trials for specific alleged offences rather than combining them altogether. The first trial will focus on the alleged massacre of hundreds of Shiites in Dujail in 1982 following a failed assassination attempt.
Separate trials are expected for the gassing of the Kurds at Halabja and the 1991 suppression of the Shiite uprising in the south, will be held later, officials said.
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