Saddam among 12 Iraqis 'to face justice'

SADDAM HUSSEIN will be transferred to Iraqi legal custody and face charges in an Iraqi court this week but he won't go on trial for months.

He will stay in a US-run jail because the country doesn't have a suitable prison, the prime minister said yesterday.

Prime Minister Iyad Allawi promised open proceeding when Saddam faces war crimes charges, including genocide.

Eleven other "high-value detainees" are also expected to face justice, he said at his first news conference since the US-led coalition handed over sovereignty to his government on Monday.

"I know I speak for my fellow countrymen when I say I look forward to the day former regime leaders face justice," he said.

Saddam will be transferred to Iraqi legal custody and face arraignment before an Iraqi judge, he added.

Soon after the end of the press conference, Iraqi authorities announced arrest warrants for Saddam and the 11 others, including former Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz. During the news conference, Mr Allawi was asked whether his cabinet had finalised plans for emergency rule. "We will tell you about those procedures later," he said.

Government officials have not spelled out what measures might be imposed.

However, Iraqi media speculated they might include special rules for searches, detentions and curfews in specific areas of the country where insurgent activity is strong.

The trials for Saddam and the 11 others will not occur for months, and Mr Allawi urged the Iraqi people to be patient. He acknowledged more than one million Iraqis are missing as a result of events that occurred during the former regime and that many Iraqis want justice done.

But he insisted that Saddam must receive a "just trial, a fair trial".

Mr Allawi did not identify any other defendants due to be handed over. However, a Saudi website Elaph.com quoted Iraqi sources as saying the list includes 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.

"We would like to show the world that the new Iraq government means business and wants to do business and wants to stabilise Iraq and put it on the road towards democracy and peace," Mr Allawi said.

Mr Allawi said Iraqi leaders requested that coalition forces retain custody of the deposed leader "until correction services are fully capable of providing for their safety and secure detention of the accused."

Saddam, who was captured by US troops on December 13, is being kept at an undisclosed location in or near Baghdad and has been interrogated by the CIA and FBI.

The tribunal that will try Saddam has a budget of $75 million. It will rely on a mix of Iraqi criminal law, international regulations such as the Geneva Convention, and experiences of bodies such as the Rwanda war crimes tribunal.

The US Justice Department has been gathering evidence for a war crimes case against Saddam, while other international groups have been sifting through mass graves where US officials say victims of Saddam's regime were buried.

Saddam's military also used chemical weapons against troops and civilians in the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s and against Kurds.

Mr Allawi said the Iraqi cabinet is still discussing whether to reinstate the death penalty.

Justice Minister Malik Dohan al-Hassan said Saddam could have foreign a lawyer if an Iraqi lawyers' association agrees.

The Jordanian lawyer Ziad al-Khasawneh, who claims to represent Saddam, has said the ousted leader should be released because the US has no legal basis to keep prisoners, including the ousted ruler, now that it has transferred authority to an interim Iraqi government.