'Saddam may be executed'
2005-08-11 21:38
Baghdad - Saddam Hussein may be executed if he is sentenced to death in the first of several anticipated trials - even if other proceedings against him are still pending, says an official close to the proceedings on Thursday.
The official said he expected the first trial to begin in autumn.
Iraqi officials had not set a trial date for the first proceedings, which involved Saddam's alleged role in the 1982 massacre of an estimated 150 Shiites in Dujail, Baghdad. He could face the death penalty.
Iraqi authorities were also building about a dozen other cases against Saddam which they intended to try separately.
The official said that if the court sentenced Saddam to death in the Dujail case, they could "theoretically" carry out the sentence without waiting for the other trials to start.
International principles, Iraqi law
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.
"It's possible, but it's going to depend on the circumstances when it happens, what other cases are going on."
He said a five-judge panel was expected to set a date for the Dujail trial "within the next few weeks".
He said the trial would be open and transparent because "the public needs to see if the process is fair".
He said: "They need to see that justice has been done and so the Iraqi Special Tribunal recognises that, the government recognises that.
"Steps will need to be taken to make sure that as much of the trials as possible are televised so that the Iraqi people can watch them as they are taking place or there could be small time delay."
1987-88 Anfal campaign
Other charges against Saddam included killing 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, after the Gulf War.
He said that if the court was allowed to work without political interference, "you can expect to see trials that are transparent, fair, up to international standards and which are in compliance with international law".
Saddam, who ruled Iraq for 23 years with an iron fist, had been in United States custody since he was captured in December 2003 near his hometown of Tikrit.
Saddam, 68, was removed from power in April 2003 by a US-led invasion.
Saddam's family on Monday fired most of his defence team, saying his only lawyer was Iraqi attorney Khalil al-Dulaimi.
- AP