Saddam trial to begin by 'end of the year'

Iraq’s national security adviser said today he hoped the trial of Saddam Hussein would begin by the end of this year.

“I will be surprised if I do not see Saddam in the box before the end of the year,” said Mouwafak al-Rubaie in Baghdad.

“I am very much hopeful that Saddam will be in the box around September and October, before the general referendum.”

Saddam was captured north of Baghdad in December 2003, and has been in custody with several of his top henchmen at a US-guarded detention facility near Baghdad’s international airport.

Saddam will be tried before the Iraqi Special Tribunal, which was established in late 2003. The tribunal has given no official date for any of trials to begin.

Last month, the tribunal announced it had completed preliminary investigations into some of the alleged crimes committed by several of Saddam Hussein’s top henchmen, and it will send the first group of five to trial.