Concern over Iraqi plans to try Saddam

THE interim Iraqi government said it wants to try Saddam Hussein before a special tribunal but a human rights group has voiced deep concern about the legitimacy of the newly-established panel.

Iraq’s new leaders want Saddam to face the tribunal they established last week specifically to hear cases involving leading members of the former regime accused of genocide and other crimes against humanity.

“We will deal with Saddam Hussein,” said Adnan Pachachi, a member of the 25-seat interim Governing Council. “He was an unjust ruler responsible for the deaths of thousands of people.”

Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, the top US military commander in Iraq, said the US-led coalition has yet to decide on Saddam’s status.

“At this point, that has not been determined. We continue to process Saddam at this point in time, and those issues will be resolved in the near future,” Lt Gen Sanchez said.

The trial of Saddam could be the first great courtroom drama of the new century, throw light on some of the blackest deeds of Iraq’s past. But the ex-dictator in the dock could also prove a larger-than-life focus for a political storm over post-war justice and the US role in Iraq.

The US-led coalition hopes his capture will demoralise Iraqi resistance forces loyal to his Baathist cause. But with the Baathist stigma gone, it could also spur other, anti-Saddam Iraqis to take up arms against the occupation. If mishandled, the prosecution of Saddam could turn him into a martyr.

Richard Dicker of Human Rights Watch said the underlying penal code of the tribunal legislation had serious human rights shortcomings, including tacit licence to coerce confessions by torture. With inadequate preparation “the process could become a political show trial, not justice but vengeance,” he warned.