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Saddam could be executed after first trial
(AP)
Updated: 2005-08-12 08:42
Saddam Hussein could be executed after his first trial if he is convicted and
sentenced to death for his alleged role in a 1982 Shiite massacre, even though
he faces other charges, an official close to the proceedings said Thursday, AP
reported.
The first trial, which involves the deposed Iraqi ruler's alleged role in the
1982 massacre of an estimated 150 Shiites in Dujail, north of Baghdad, is
expected to begin by the fall, said the official. He briefed reporters on
condition that his name would not be used for reasons of security and the
sensitivity of the case.
Saddam's daughter, meanwhile, has threatened that the ousted leader's defense
lawyer could boycott the trial 錕斤拷 and preliminary questioning 錕斤拷 unless the
defense gets better access to Saddam. The defense has complained in the past
that it has only been allowed to meet Sadddam with U.S. or Iraqi military
officials watching.
In this image made available by the Iraq
Special Tribunal 29 July 2005, Saddam Hussein answers questions during an
investigative session conducted by the Iraqi Special Tribunal 28 July 2005
in Iraq. [AFP/file] | Iraqi authorities also are
building about a dozen other cases against Saddam that they intend to try
separately. Those cases include the killing of rival politicians over 30 years,
the 1987-88 Anfal campaign that left tens of thousands of Kurds dead or
displaced and the crushing of a 1991 uprising by Shiites following the Gulf War.
If Saddam is sentenced to death in the Dujail case, authorities could
"theoretically" carry out the sentence without waiting for the other trials to
begin, the official said.
"If the sentence were to be the death penalty, I think that the court will
have to make a decision based on international principles, Iraqi law, whether or
not there is need for him in another case for the prosecution or another
defendant," the official said.
"It's possible but it's going depend on the circumstances when it happens,
what other cases are going on," he added.
A five-judge panel was expected to set a date for the Dujail trial "within
the next few weeks," he said, pledging the proceedings will be fair and
transparent.
If the court is allowed to work without political interference, "you can
expect to see trials that are transparent, that are fair, that are up to
international standards that are in compliance with international law," the
official said.
Saddam, who ruled Iraq for 23 years with an iron fist, has been in U.S.
custody since he was captured in December 2003 near his hometown of Tikrit.
Saddam, 68, was removed from power in April 2003 by a U.S.-led invasion.
His daughter, Raghad, has been running his defense team from Jordan, where
she fled after her father's fall. Earlier this week, she fired the entire team
except for one Iraqi lawyer, Khalil Dulaimi, because the team of more than 1,500
Arab and Western lawyers only sought fame in the high-profile case.
She threatened that Saddam's lawyer would boycot upcoming proceedings 錕斤拷
including the trial 錕斤拷 unless the defense is allowed to meet privately with
Saddam.
"Our defense will boycott all the procedures of interrogation and prosecution
until the President is allowed to have the legal advice he is entitled to," she
wrote in a letter to the Iraqi Special Tribunal, a copy of which was made
available to The Associated Press in Amman, Jordan.
She had not yet sent the letter and there was no word on when she intended to
send it. Dulaimi could not immediately be reached for comment.
"Your masters who occupy Iraq have denied the President the rights he is
entitled to according to the laws of war and to the Geneva Conventions, which
provide him the right to choose a legal counsel of his own free choice, along
with the right of such defense lawyers to have full access and in privacy to him
as they deem necessary," she said in the letter.
Raghad disputed the legitimacy of the tribunal, saying it was "totally
illegal and all its (decisions) are deemed null and void."
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