BAGHDAD: Deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein will be tried on 12 well-documented counts by the Iraqi court set up to hear cases against him and his top associates within the next two months.
According to Iraqi prime minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari's spokesman Laith Kubba, Saddam Hussein and his top aides could face some 500 charges at the special court, but prosecuting him on all would be a "waste of time". The charges on which he would stand trial now include the 1982 killings of nearly 160 men in Dujail, the Shiite village north of Baghdad, after he escaped a bid on life there.
"There should be no objection that a trial should take place within that time," Kubba said at a press conference. "It is the government's view that the trial of Saddam should take place as soon as possible."
He said the Iraqi government wanted the trial to cover 12 "fully documented cases," including Dujail, which would ensure a death sentence for the 68-year-old former ruler.
The Iraqi government has indicated that it will make use of the death penalty available in Iraqi criminal code drafted under Hussein's regime in this case, especially against those who perpetrated brutalities under Hussein and the insurgents who tried to destroy the country after his capture.
The judge in charge of the trial, Raed Juhi, had mentioned to a Saudi Arabia newspaper the Hussein's morale is low because he realizes the volume of accusations for which he will be judged.
Meanwhile, Hussein's legal counsel Issam Ghazawi said it is illegal to issue charges against the Iraqi president this way. "The appropriate channel is for the accusations to come through the court and for the lawyers to receive a copy of the indictment."
Hussein, ousted by the US-led forces and captured in December 2003, faces charges like the chemical attack on the Kurdish village of Halabja in 1988, the invasion of Kuwait in 1990 and the repression of Shias in 1991. If convicted, he may face death.
Analysts say the transitional government in Iraq has succeeded in prevailing upon the Iraqi Special Tribunal trying Hussein to have an early trial on a minimum number of charges unlike the American lawyers advising the tribunal. These lawyers want some of the former dictator's aides to stand trial first, so that the court can be shown a pattern of "command responsibility" that would conclusively lead to Hussein. The testimony of the aides can be used against him, they feel. However, this would have taken a longer time, may be until 2006, for Hussein to be brought to the trial.
The U.S. has allotted $75 million for the trial. American officials did not comment on the Iraqi stand.
Some analysts subscribe to the opinion that the trial could prove to be highly divisive in an already troubled Iraq. The Shiite-led Iraqi government had already acknowledged that in its anti-insurgency drives, its army would have killed several innocent Sunni Muslims mostly in southwestern Baghdad. Sunni Muslim organizations have charged that several Iraqis have been arrested in the drive and many of them were Sunnis, who dominated the country during Hussein's rule.
The crackdown, Operation Lighting, has been on its second week and there have been tangible results. At least the attacks on Baghdad have ceased, according to the government.
