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Iraqi Hits International Saddam Tribunal

Posted on: Friday, 19 December 2003, 06:00 CST

The appointment of international judges to a tribunal for Saddam Hussein would undermine Iraqi sovereignty, Iraq's Justice Minister said Friday.

Also, a radical Shiite cleric said an independent religious tribunal should be set up to try Saddam, and the court should include religious leaders from Kuwait and Iran, which were both invaded by the former dictator.

Iraq's U.S.-appointed Governing Council has set up a war crimes tribunal to try former members of Saddam's regime on cases stemming from mass executions of Iraqi Kurds in the 1980s, as well as the suppression of uprisings by Kurds and Shiite Muslims after the 1991 Gulf War.

Some council members say Saddam, who is being interrogated in U.S. custody, should be tried quickly and face the death penalty if convicted. International human rights group have raised questions about the independence and professionalism of the tribunal.

Justice Minister Hashim Abdul Rahman al-Shalabi, who was appointed by the Governing Council, said the tribunal law allows international experts to advise the five-judge tribunal when it is deemed necessary. But he objected to the appointment of foreign judges.

"The presence of foreign judges will undermine (Iraqi) sovereignty and would undercut the value of the Iraqi judiciary," al-Shalabi told The Associated Press.

"Iraqi judges have enough experience and information to carry out the task," he said. "An Iraqi judge can also look at the crimes committed objectively and will provide the suspects with means to defend themselves."

The Iraqi-led tribunal contrasts with U.N.-sponsored tribunals set up to consider war crimes in the former Yugoslavia and in Rwanda. In those cases, international judges and lawyers have argued and decided cases.

On Thursday, Governing Council member Adnan Pachachi said Iraq's tribunal would welcome "foreign judges if we feel it's necessary."

In a Friday sermon in the town of Kufa, south of Baghdad, Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called for the formation of a "popular religious court" to try Saddam. Such courts "should also involve Iran and Kuwait, who were also harmed by Saddam."

Al-Sadr is popular among poor and young Shiites, who were the most repressed under the former leader. His stronghold is in al-Sadr city in Baghdad.

An Iraqi transitional government will assume sovereignty by July 1 under an agreement with the U.S.-led coalition.

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