Trial of Saddam's aides begins
AFTER a year in jail, senior officials in the regime of the ousted Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein, will face trial over war crimes next week.
The Iraqi Interim Prime Minister, Ayad Allawi, who broke the news yesterday, however, did not say whether Saddam would be among those whose trial begins next week.
Many members of Iraq's former Baath Party arrested more than a year ago have been in jail since they were picked up but have been able to meet with counsel. On Monday, Saddam's Jordan-based lawyers said they have not seen the ousted ruler, arrested a year ago.
Officials had given conflicting accounts about when the trials before the Iraqi Special Tribunal would begin. They have also suggested that Saddam would not be tried first.
"I can now tell you clearly and precisely that, God willing, next week the trials of the symbols of the former regime will start, one by one so that justice can take its path in Iraq," Allawi told the Interim National Council, without naming who would go first.
The government has given conflicting predictions about when the trials would occur. Allawi had previously said they would take place in October or November, while others have said they would begin no earlier than 2006.
An Allawi spokesman later said he had no information about who would be tried first. He said more details would be released today.
The interim Prime Minister also announced the arrest of a former top Saddam's aide, Izzi-Din Mohammed Hassan al-Majid, the deposed leader's cousin. Al-Majid, who fled Iraq in 1995 and was granted indefinite leave to remain in Britain in 2000, was arrested in Fallujah and will be tried as soon as possible, Allawi said.
Government leaders have recently said the Special Tribunal is not yet prepared to begin the trials. They need to train judges and prosecutors and sort through stacks of evidence, all under the pressure of a deadly insurgency that has been able to strike at will.
"The prosecution team, the defence counsel, the investigative judges, the documents are not ready.
"It will take time. If you want to get it right, it will take time," National Security Adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie said recently.
But leaders have come under new pressure recently. On Monday, the United States (U.S.) military acknowledged that eight of Saddam's 11 top lieutenants went on hunger strikes at the weekend to demand visits in jail from the International Committee of the Red Cross, but they were eating again by Monday.
A lawyer for former Deputy Prime Minister, Tariq Aziz, said they were protesting the legality of their trials and their detention. Saddam's own lawyers in Jordan issued a statement at the weekend, protesting the U.S. refusal to let them see him.
Younadem Kana, a member of the interim National Council, said on Monday that the body wanted a speedy trial for Saddam and his lieutenants because the detainees were giving hope to insurgents in Iraq.
"Punishing them would be a deterrent," he said.
Some Allawi critics have claimed he is politicising the trials ahead of January 30 elections. Salem Chalabi, the tribunal director, was ousted abruptly in September and accused Allawi of pushing for show trials to boost his popularity before the vote.
American officials with the Justice Department's Regime Crimes Liaison Office are advising the Iraqi Special Tribunal on the process. The Americans paid the tribunal's budget of $75 million for 2004 to 2005.
U.S. Embassy officials said they had no prior information on Allawi's statement and learned of his plan only through media reports. The U.S. President George W. Bush administration has repeatedly said the trials must be legitimate and could take some time.
Saddam and his 11 top lieutenants have been held for months in an undisclosed location, believed to be near the Baghdad International Airport, west of the capital. They appeared before the Iraqi Special Tribunal in July to face preliminary charges from the former regime.
