Shackled Saddam in dock soon
2004-06-27 20:51
Baghdad - A handcuffed and chained Saddam Hussein will be hauled in front of an Iraqi judge within days to hear his arrest warrant, Iraq's national security advisor Muwaffaq al-Rubaie told CBS television on Sunday.
"We're going to have control of Saddam Hussein.
"We're going to have two American military MPs to hand him over to four Iraqi policemen. They will put a chain (on him) and take him to the waiting room," Rubaie told CBS anchorman Dan Rather.
"The judge will call his name, Saddam Hussein Majid. And they will bring him in ... open his chain, handcuff and take him to the judge and the judge is going to give him his rights and his defence and he's going to issue an arrest warrant against Saddam Hussein.
"They're going to put the handcuffs on him. Take him ... controlled by Iraqi policemen."
Rubaie said Saddam will hauled in the dock "in a couple of days time, probably".
"We want to show our people that this miserable soul if you like is in the hand of the Iraqis now and we are in control," Rubaie said.
Rubaie vowed the trial of Saddam would not turn into a replay of the war crimes trial of former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic at The Hague, in which he could grandstand and appeal to the sympathies of people back home.
"We have put some restriction on the political discussion. Basically this is going to be purely his criminal acts," Rubaie said.
Alleged crimes
The Shiite Muslim political leader then recited the alleged crimes that the jailed dictator would be judged for.
"Saddam Hussein, why did you kill Sadr?" he asked, referring to Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Sadeq Sadr assassinated in 1999, allegedly by the former regime.
"Why did you kill tens of clergy? Why did you kill tens of thousands of people? Why did you commit the massacres? Why did you use the chemical weapons against our people in Kurdistan?
Why did you start the Iran-Iraq war? Why did you invade Kuwait? Why did you bring this country all of these miseries?
"This is the pure criminal record of Saddam Hussein."
Rubaie indicated Saddam would probably face the death penalty, in line with previous statements made by Iraqi officials.
US to retain 'physical custody'
He did not specify whether Saddam would remain under the lock and key of Iraqis, or be guarded by US forces.
Interim prime minister Iyad Allawi told reporters earlier that Iraqis would guard Saddam, with US forces providing backup on the perimeter of the jail house.
However, US Secretary of State Colin Powell told CNN that Saddam would remain in the physical custody of US forces for the "foreseeable future".
"I would expect that legal custody would be handed over shortly, but physical custody would remain in our hands for the foreseeable future," he said.
A bearded, dazed Saddam, with hair astray, was captured by US troops from a hole in the ground on a farm near his home city of Tikrit on December 13.
- AFP