BAGHDAD -
(Reuters) Saddam Hussein's chief attorney dismissed
statements from the Iraqi government that the former
president's trial would begin on Oct. 19 as
"invalid" and said on Saturday he needed "years"
just to read the evidence.
"The defence team has not been informed about the
decision and has not signed it. It is invalid,"
Khalil Dulaimi told Reuters, adding that in any case
he did not recognise the legitimacy of the Special
Tribunal set up to try Saddam and his aides.
He also complained that there was not enough time to
study all the documents related to the trial: "It
will take years to study the 36 tonnes of files."
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Former dictator
Saddam Hussein
Photo : AP
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It seems
unlikely the lawyer's protest will be heeded. Saddam
and several aides will go on trial on Oct. 19, an
Iraqi government source said on Friday.
The process, for the killing of dozens of Shi'ite
villagers at Dujail in 1982, will therefore be
starting just a few days after a referendum on a new
constitution that the U.S.-backed authorities intend
to bury the legacy of his dictatorship.
The source, who is not attached to the Special
Tribunal actually trying the deposed president and
his aides for crimes against humanity, forecast a
quick trial and execution.
"After what he did, how can we not execute him?" he
said.
On Thursday, Iraq hanged its first three criminals
since Saddam was overthrown in 2003 and officials in
the Shi'ite-led government have made clear they want
a death sentence for a man they blame for the deaths
of many thousands.
The trial may stir passions among some minority
Sunni Arabs, who dominated Iraq under Saddam and
before. In some demonstrations this past week
against the new constitution, his face reappeared in
public, on placards and posters.
Saddam followers also play a role in the violence
against U.S. troops and forces loyal to the Shi'ite-led
government.
For that reason, the timing of the trial has been
sensitive; judicial officials indicated last month
that the Dujail hearings would be ready to start by
the beginning of October, so the choice of Wednesday
Oct. 19 appears politically driven to avoid it
clashing with the referendum campaign.
The timing of any conviction and sentencing, and
indeed execution, may be similarly affected by a
parliamentary election due in December. Officials
say the trial will not run into years or anything
like the time former Yugoslav President Slobodan
Milosevic has been before the international court at
The Hague.
Weeks rather than months, was a forecast by one
official involved in the process. He also said
recently it was possible that Saddam might be
executed if convicted only of the killings at Dujail,
so that further trials for mass murder against Kurds
and Shi'ites and other offences might never take
place.
The Iraqi government, reflecting a popular mood,
seems keen on dispatching the former leader quickly,
hence the choice of the relatively small Dujail case
to begin the process.
Prosecutors have said Saddam's direct responsibility
for the deaths may be easier to prove. The case
involves the deaths of possibly more than 140 men
from the village, north of Baghdad, where Saddam
survived an assassination attempt in 1982.
The trial, which officials have said will probably
largely be televised, will be held in a specially
prepared building inside the fortified Green Zone
government compound which was once Saddam's
presidential palace complex on the Tigris.
Reuters
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