Saddam to face the world

2004-06-30 21:41

Baghdad - Iraqis and the world will get their first glimpse of Saddam Hussein, the former Iraqi president, since his capture in December when he and 11 of his top lieutenants are brought to court on Thursday to face war crimes charges likely to include the 1988 chemical weapons massacre of Kurds and the 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

Already there are pre-trial negotiations about permitting Saddam's foreign legal team to work in Iraq, whether to televise the proceedings and whether to reinstate the harshest penalty in Iraq's legal code: hanging.

Salem Chalabi, the director of the Iraqi special tribunal that will try Saddam, said Thursday's appearance at the tribunal, housed in a courthouse with a prominent clock tower inside Baghdad's sealed-off Green Zone, is expected to be filmed for public release.

24 hours to respond

Abdel Rahim al-Rifaei, a spokesperson for Allawi, told the Arab language television station, Al-Jazeera, that under Iraqi laws, Saddam would be granted 24 hours to respond to this list of accusations and get a lawyer.

"Tomorrow... his trial officially starts," he said.

The first batch of Saddam's lieutenants to face the tribunal include Ali Hassan al-Majid, also known as "Chemical Ali"; former vice-president Taha Yassin Ramadan; former deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz; and two of Saddam's half-brothers.

Chalabi has said the trials of Saddam and other senior figures probably would not begin before 2005.

Some suspects could be charged in the autumn, but "the senior ones will not be charged for some time," he told CNN.

"Then, after that... the trials would start, maybe, a few months further down the line."

- AP