Iraqi tribunal denies reports of Saddam trial delay

By Luke Baker

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Saddam Hussein’s trial will start on
time on October 19, Iraq’s special tribunal said on Thursday,
denying comments by a British official who said it could be put
off until December.

“That is certainly not true,” a member of the tribunal’s
media office said. “It will start on October 19.”

A source close to Saddam’s legal team said on Thursday that
they expected to be in court on October 19.

However, it is possible that any initial hearings could be
quickly followed by a lengthy adjournment.

The tribunal, set up during the U.S. occupation in 2003 to
try members of the former regime, issued a statement confirming
the start date this week, although it also said it had the
right to delay it if there were “good reasons.”

A senior British official, speaking to reporters in London,
said the long-awaited, high-profile trial might have to be put
off until after elections in December because essential
preparations would not be ready in time.

“It’s the physical logistics of having a trial — getting
things built and various bits and pieces of where the witnesses
are going to sit,” another British official said of the
situation, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Britain, which like the United States is intimately
involved in the post-war administration of Iraq, has provided
training to Iraqi judges on the tribunal.

People who this week visited the courtroom, inside
Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone, said it looked far from ready,
with benches for the defendants and the prosecution yet to be
installed, and no bullet proof screens for witnesses.

ADJOURNMENT POSSIBLE

While the judges involved in the case have said they are
keen to proceed on time, sources close to the tribunal have
hinted that even if something happens on October 19, it is more
likely to be a short session for judges to hear motions for a
delay, rather than the blockbuster beginning of a trial.

“There’s every chance that October 19 will be a pretty
low-key event and there’ll immediately be some sort of
adjournment,” one source said late last month.

Saddam’s main lawyer, Khaleel Dulaimi, has made it clear he
intends to seek a postponement because he says he has not had
enough time to study the evidence against his client. Iraqi
officials say he has had sufficient time under Iraqi law.

Dulaimi has also said in the past that he intends to
challenge the legitimacy of the court because it was initially
set up with U.S. funding under U.S. occupation.

If the trial goes ahead, Saddam and six co-defendants will
be tried for crimes against humanity in connection with the
deaths of 143 Shi’ite men from the village of Dujail following
a failed attempt on Saddam’s life in 1982.

While one of the more minor crimes of which he is accused,
prosecutors are starting with the Dujail case because they say
they have strong evidence, including testimony from Saddam
aides, and are therefore more hopeful of securing a conviction.

If Saddam is convicted, he could face the death penalty,
and under Iraqi law would be put to death by hanging.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a lawyer who opposes the
death penalty, said in comments published on Thursday that
Saddam’s supporters in the insurgency were trying to negotiate
to have his life spared in exchange for putting down their
guns.

“The Saddamists are trying now to negotiate with the
Americans on stopping the operations in exchange for not
executing Saddam in the trial which is about to start,”
Talabani told Egypt’s al-Ahram newspaper.

(Additional reporting by Peter Graff and Khaled Yacoub
Oweis in London)