Former president Saddam Hussein appeared before an Iraqi judge yesterday as Iraq's newly sovereign government took the first step towards bringing him to justice -- and a possible death penalty -- for 35 years of killing and torture.
"Today at 10:15am the Republic of Iraq assumed legal custody of Saddam Hussein," said a terse statement from interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's office.
The deposed dictator and 11 of his lieutenants were turned over to face Iraqi justice nearly 15 months after US-led forces overthrew him. They will stay under US military guard.
PHOTO: AP
"Saddam said `Good morning' and asked if he could ask some questions," said Salem Chalabi, the US-trained lawyer leading the work of a tribunal set up to try the former president.
"He was told he should wait until tomorrow," Chalabi said after attending the formalities in which Saddam and 11 of his former lieutenants were turned over to Iraqi justice.
Chalabi, who has received death threats since he began work on the tribunal, said the 67-year-old Saddam looked in good health and had sat in a chair during the closed proceedings.
Saddam's former aides appeared nervous or hostile and one of them, Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as Chemical Ali for his role in using chemical weapons, was shaking.
Saddam, accused by Iraqis of ordering the killing and torture of thousands of people during 35 years of Baathist rule, had been held as a prisoner of war since US forces found him hiding in a hole near his hometown of Tikrit on Dec. 13 last year.
He will now be subject to Iraqi criminal law, rather than a POW protected by the Geneva Conventions. His trial is likely to be several months away. Iraq's national security adviser said it would be broadcast live on television.
Iraq's president was quoted as saying the death penalty, suspended during the US-led occupation, would be reinstated and the national security adviser said it could apply to Saddam.
The fallen leader will be charged with crimes against humanity for a 1988 gas massacre of Kurds, the 1990 invasion of Kuwait and the 1980 to 1988 Iran-Iraq war, according to Chalabi.
"Tomorrow's proceedings will mark the start of his trial," said an official in Allawi's office.
French lawyer Emmanuel Ludot, one of a 20-strong team appointed by Saddam's wife to represent him, said the former president would refuse to acknowledge any court or any judge.
"It will be a court of vengeance, a settling of scores," Ludot told France Info radio, saying any judge sitting in the court would be under pressure to find Saddam guilty.
Among others to be handed over were former deputy prime minister Tareq Aziz and three of Saddam's half-brothers.
Those former officials and others among the 55 most wanted Iraqis on a US list are seen as witnesses who could help prove a chain of command linking Saddam to crimes against humanity.
Government offices were shut yesterday for a new national holiday declared to mark Monday's transfer of sovereignty to the interim government from US-British occupation authorities.
Insurgents fired six to 10 mortar rounds that landed north of Baghdad international airport yesterday, wounding six soldiers of the US-led force, a US military spokesman said.
A bomb exploded in the southern town of Samawa, where Japanese and Dutch troops are deployed, but no one was badly hurt, witnesses said. The blast was not near the Japanese camp.
In Najaf, Iraqi police announced an overnight curfew after fighters loyal to Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr clashed with a police patrol. Witnesses said shops were closed and Sadr's Mehdi Army fighters were on the streets of the holy city in force.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
RSS