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Judge: Saddam trial could begin next month
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-07-14 09:11
Saddam Hussein could go on trial as early as next month for his alleged
role in a massacre 23 years ago, a top judge said Wednesday. He said the
ousted president could face the death penalty.
Raid Juhi, chief judge of the Iraq Special Tribunal, said the investigation
into the July 8, 1982 massacre in Dujail, a predominantly Shiite village 50
miles north of Baghdad, is complete.
Juhi said four other former senior officials would stand trial in the Dujail
massacre, in which Saddam's security agents allegedly shot dead at least 50
people after a plot to assassinate him was uncovered.
Former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in
Baghdad, July 2004. [AFP/file] | Juhi said the
trial would begin "in August or September, but we would like it to begin before
that." Saddam and the others could be sentenced to death if convicted, Juhi
said.
Iraqi officials have announced the imminent start of Saddam's trial before,
only to have the proceedings delayed. The Americans privately have urged caution
about rushing into a trial, saying Iraq must develop a good court and judicial
system first.
U.S. officials say there are also concerns a trial could interfere with the
important process of writing a constitution and inflame sectarian tension. The
Iraqi government must finish a draft by mid-August so it can hold a referendum
on the charter ahead of December elections for a full-term government.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said last month he hoped the trial
would take place "sooner" than the end of the year. Zebari said investigators
already have "an abundance of evidence of the crimes of Saddam. ... We don't
need any further evidence."
Saddam, 68, has been jailed under American control at a U.S. military
detention complex near Baghdad airport.
In an interview with The Associated Press in Brussels, Belgium last month,
Justice Minister Abdul Hussein Shandal said he was confident Iraqi investigators
would wrap up the case against Saddam by the end of the year.
Shandal accused the United States of trying to hinder the Iraqi investigation
of Saddam's regime, saying "it seems there are lots of secrets they want to
hide."
Saddam is also expected to face charges for his alleged role in the 1987-88
campaign to drive Iraqi Kurds from wide areas of the north and for crushing the
Shiite revolt in the south after U.S.-led forces drove Iraqi invaders from
Kuwait in 1991.
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