Debate begins on how Saddam trial will proceed

By Toni Locy and Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — Hours after Saddam Hussein's capture, the jockeying began over how the former Iraqi leader should be put to trial: by Iraqis who say he committed atrocities against his own people, or by an international court like those that have weighed crimes against humanity.
The U.S. government, which has custody of Saddam, hasn't decided where or when he will get his day in court. But a State Department official said the Bush administration wants the Iraqis to play a "major role in holding Saddam accountable."

Alleged reign of terror

Former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein faces a range of charges. Among them:

•He allegedly authorized the use of poison gas and other atrocities against Iran during the Iran-Iraq war in 1980-88. Iraq killed thousands of Iranian prisoners of war.

•To suppress rebellion by Kurds in northern Iraq in the late 1980s, Saddam allegedly authorized the use of poison gas on cities.

In one of the worst mass killings in recent history, Iraq dropped chemical weapons on Halabja in 1988, killing as many as 5,000 people. International analysts estimate that in all, Saddam's government destroyed more than 3,000 villages in northern Iraq and displaced about 900,000 citizens.

•Kuwaiti officials say that during Iraq's brief takeover of their country in 1990-91, Saddam's troops committed murder, rape and torture.

•Saddam's regime has been accused of committing crimes against humanity in crackdowns on Marsh Arabs and Shi'a Arabs in southern Iraq. Villages were destroyed as government forces burned houses and fields. Thousands of civilians were executed.

•During Saddam's regime, thousands of political foes and other critics were executed or simply disappeared. In some cases, the wives and daughters of Saddam's political foes were raped.

Source: U.S. State Department

On Monday, an Iraqi Governing Council member said Saddam could be tried "in the next few weeks" and could face the death penalty if convicted.

The U.S.-led occupational authority has suspended executions in Iraq, but human rights activist Mouwafak al-Rabii said it won't take long for death to be reinstated after the July 1 deadline for sovereignty to be restored.

"We will get sovereignty on the 30th of June, and I can tell you, he could be executed on the 1st of July," said al-Rabii.

On Sunday, British Prime Minister Tony Blair suggested that Saddam should face trial in Iraqi courts.

President Bush said Sunday that Saddam "will face the justice he denied to millions."

The U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council kicked off what is likely to be an intense international debate Sunday by staking its claim to a Saddam trial.

Citing legislation it enacted Wednesday, the interim Iraqi government said it has established a special tribunal for handling cases against top members of Saddam's government accused of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.

The plan provides only a framework for bringing suspects like Saddam to a world stage, where security will be an issue no matter where he is tried.

At the start of the U.S. war in Iraq, many legal analysts said Iraq and the United States would be better off if Saddam were killed rather than face trial before a tribunal he could use as a platform to harangue opponents and to incite followers.

But now, with Saddam in custody, analysts say a public trial could give Iraq's new leaders a chance to show they are ready to run their country.

"This is a country hungry for a viable sign that Saddam Hussein is really gone," said John Kunich, a law professor at Roger Williams University in Bristol, R.I. "Nothing could make that point any clearer than conducting an open trial in Iraq. A trial, maybe more than anything else, would illustrate that times have changed."

Saddam's capture gives the Iraqis more than a chance to "bring their villains to justice," said Anne-Marie Slaughter, dean of Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. "One hopes it will be the key to the healing process for Iraq."

For Iraq's interim government, putting Saddam on trial could be the turning point in establishing its place in the world.

"The Iraqis have made very clear their desire and willingness to assume all of the responsibilities of sovereignty as soon as possible," said Washington lawyer Michael Nardotti, a former U.S. Army judge advocate general. "And exercising the administration of justice against the most egregious offenders is certainly fundamental to exercising sovereignty."

But human rights advocates signaled Sunday that the Iraqi tribunal model will face opposition in the international community because it includes the death penalty as a possible punishment.

Some expressed concern that a trial run by Iraqis could become an exercise in exacting revenge on a deposed dictator whose regime was known for its brutality.

"To allow (the Iraqis) to run this would be a recipe for a show trial," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch.

If the Iraqis get their way, Saddam will face trial before a tribunal that appears tailor-made for him.

The Iraqi Special Tribunal for Crimes Against Humanity has jurisdiction over crimes committed from July 17, 1968 — the day the Baath Party came to power — to May 1 — the day Bush declared an end to most hostilities in the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

The crimes covered by the tribunal also are offenses linked directly to Saddam: the use of poison gas that killed thousands of Kurds in the 1980s, the invasion of Kuwait in 1990 and the oppression of Shiite Muslims in the early 1990s.

Under the best of circumstances, analysts say, it probably will take months, and perhaps more than a year, to prepare a case against Saddam and bring it to trial.

Before then, the U.S. government probably will spend months interrogating Saddam about the location of any weapons of mass destruction and his government's connections, if any, to al-Qaeda.

As a "prisoner of war," Saddam cannot be tortured and must be treated humanely. He will not be entitled to a lawyer until he is charged with a crime.

To the dismay of human rights advocates, the Iraqi tribunal will rely on the country's existing criminal law, as interpreted by judges and prosecutors who could have been corrupted by Saddam.

"It would be good, even preferable that Iraq host a trial," Roth said. "But there is no reason to believe that the Iraqi justice system is capable of doing this on its own. Iraq has no history of respect for the tradition of due process. They have no experience in conducting complex investigations."

The Iraqi tribunal rules contain classically American concepts, such as the presumption of innocence, court-appointed lawyers and the rights to cross-examine witnesses and to remain silent at trial.

Hearings will be public, unless a portion must be closed to protect a witness or sensitive evidence, the statute says.

Verdicts will be decided by a majority of five judges, some of whom may be non-Iraqis. Slaughter says the Iraqis could ask Arab nations for judges to minimize the U.S. influence.

Senior U.S. District Judge Gilbert Merritt, who went to Iraq this year to assess its judicial system, says Iraqi judges are more independent than critics realize.

"As a matter of national pride, the Iraqis are going to want to conduct this themselves," he said. "They are competent to do this."

Contributing: Barbara Slavin


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