Saddam trial date dismissed as 'posturing'

Iraqi authorities have set October 19 as the date for the start of the trial of Saddam Hussein, an official said. A Western diplomat discounted the report as "posturing".

The official, who spoke yesterday on condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to make the formal announcement, said authorities wanted the trial to start soon after Iraqis finish the referendum on the new constitution October 15.

Many Sunni Arabs oppose the constitution, and a trial of the former dictator, a Sunni, could further worsen sectarian relations.

A Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of commenting on a foreign judicial system’s plans, said he doubted the trial would start on that date.

“It’s posturing,” he said without elaboration, adding that many factors would determine the start of the trial. He would not elaborate.

On Thursday, another official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said the decision had been taken to start the trial between October 15 and 20.

Saddam and three co-defendants will stand trial for the 1982 massacre of Shiites in Dujail, a town north of Baghdad, after a failed assassination. Saddam could receive the death penalty.

Other co-defendants in the case are Barazan Ibrahim, intelligence chief at the time and Saddam’s half brother; former Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan; and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, at the time a Baath party official in Dujail.

Saddam is expected to face about a dozen trials for alleged crimes committed by his regime, including the gassing of Kurds in Halabja and the 1991 suppression of a Shiite uprising in the south.