Saddam handed over to Iraq for trial

HE RULED Iraq for 35 years with a brutal tyranny of killings and torture. But justice finally caught up with Saddam Hussein yesterday when the former Iraqi leader was turned over to his people to answer for his crimes.

Much remains to be done ahead of Saddam’s expected trial on charges of crimes against humanity but, as Salem Chalabi, the director of the special tribunal that will conduct the hearings, said yesterday: "The first step has happened."

In a momentous day for Iraq, Saddam and 11 of his lieutenants were handed over to the country’s interim government, which will bring them to trial.

In a one-line announcement, the office of the prime minister, Iyad Allawi, said the Iraqi government assumed legal - but not physical - control "today, 30th June, at 10:15 in the morning".

The 12 are to appear in court today for a reading of the charges.

Mr Chalabi said he met Saddam to explain his rights and what will happen to him.

The ousted ruler, who was deposed by United States forces almost 15 months ago and captured in December, appeared to have lost weight in confinement.

"Saddam said ‘Good morning’ and asked if he could ask some questions," Mr Chalabi said. "He was told he should wait until tomorrow."

The other defendants were also brought into the room individually to hear that they would appear in court today, Mr Chalabi said. Some of them looked very worried."

Saddam will remain in a US-controlled jail guarded by US soldiers until the Iraqis are ready to take physical custody of him.

However, the legal transfer means that Saddam and the others are no longer prisoners of war - subject to rights under the Geneva Conventions - but criminal defendants whose treatment will be in accordance with Iraqi law. The change gives them the right to lawyers.

Mr Chalabi has said earlier the trials of Saddam and other senior figures probably would not begin before next year.

A French lawyer, Emmanuel Ludot, one of a 20-strong team appointed by Saddam’s wife to represent him, said the former president would refuse to acknowledge any court or any judge.

"It will be a court of vengeance, a settling of scores," Ms Ludot told France Info radio, saying any judge sitting in the court would be under pressure to find Saddam guilty.

Paul Bremer, the former US administrator in Iraq, said he was confident the Iraqis would handle the trials well.

The charges of crimes against humanity for which Saddam is expected to be tried include the 1988 chemical weapons massacre of Kurds in Halabja, the slaughter of Shiites during a 1991 uprising in southern Iraq, the 1990 invasion of Kuwait and the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.

Mr Chalabi said Saddam’s appearance today at the tribunal, in a courthouse with a prominent clock tower inside Baghdad’s sealed-off Green Zone, is expected to be videotaped for public release.

The images would be the first of Saddam available to the public since his 13 December capture by US soldiers, when a clip showed the bushy-bearded leader opening his mouth for a dental examination.

The Saddam lieutenants who will also appear include Ali Hassan al-Majid, also known as "Chemical Ali"; the former vice-president Taha Yassin Ramadan; the former deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz; and two of Saddam’s half brothers.

Pre-trial negotiations have started over permitting Saddam’s foreign legal team to work in Iraq, whether to televise the proceedings and whether to reinstate the death penalty, which Mr Bremer suspended.

Mouwafak al-Rubaie, Iraq’s new national security adviser, said he hoped to ensure the trial was broadcast live so the world would see "what Saddam has done to virtually every person, every individual in this country".

Preparations for the trial come at an extremely difficult time. US administrators handed power to a sovereign Iraqi government only on Monday. Mr Allawi’s government faces a relentless insurgency and 160,000 US-led foreign troops will remain in the country.

Iraqi officials insist Saddam and the others will get fair trials. Hamid al-Bayati, Iraq’s new deputy foreign minister and a leader of the main Shiite Muslim party, said there was "no chance at all" that Saddam might walk out a free man, perhaps on a legal technicality.

"The whole world will see this," said Mr Bayati, who said he was tortured in Saddam’s prisons in the 1970s. "He won’t be able to walk free."

He noted that Saddam’s victims are thought to number in the hundreds of thousands or more, which means a huge segment of the 26 million Iraqis want to watch him answer for those crimes.

But the trial could contribute to the upheaval in Iraq by polarising Saddam’s supporters and detractors, said Walid Mohammed al-Shibibi, a Baghdad attorney and editor of a legal journal.

"This will escalate into terrorist attacks," he said.

As much as 30 tons of documents and other evidence must be culled ahead of the trials. Then there are the potential witnesses to interview, which could be said to include almost every Iraqi.

"If I’m asked to testify I would be willing," Mr Bayati said. "But there are so many others who suffered more. There are more serious eyewitnesses."