Saddam to face court today

BAGHDAD - Nearly two years after he was found in hiding, Saddam Hussein goes on trial in Baghdad today charged with crimes against humanity.

Together with seven others, all members of his once-feared Baath Party, Saddam will face a five-judge panel from Iraq's Special Tribunal, a court established by US authorities in December 2003 to try the leaders of the overthrown regime.

The charges relate to the death of more than 140 Shi'ite Muslim men over two decades ago.

However, while the day in court for the former dictator has been long awaited by Iraqis and others, it may not last long.

Government officials and sources close to the tribunal say the case may be quickly adjourned, perhaps on the first day, so the judges, who have received training over the past 18 months in Britain, can study defence motions for a dismissal or delay.

Saddam, 68, may not speak other than to confirm his name when charges are read out; at a pre-trial hearing in July last year he defiantly gave his occupation as "president of Iraq".

He has not been seen in public since, other than in video of interviews with magistrates, in which he appeared thoughtful, stroking the greying beard he has sported since his capture.

The charges stem from events that took place on July 8, 1982, when a group of young men linked to the Shi'ite Dawa Party attempted to assassinate Saddam as his armoured motorcade passed through Dujail, a town about 60 km north of Baghdad.

In retaliation for the botched attempt on his life, prosecutors will try to show that Saddam ordered his henchmen to hunt down, torture and kill scores of men from the town, not just immediately after that day, but in the years that followed.

Women and children were also alleged to have been forcibly removed from Dujail, taken to Abu Ghraib prison and later sent to an internment camp in the desert near the border with Saudi Arabia where many ultimately "disappeared".

Helicopters and tanks then demolished parts of the town, while Saddam's soldiers laid waste to rich farmland and fruit groves, destroying the people's homes and their livelihoods.

Genocide

Investigators have had nearly two years to collect evidence and interview witnesses in the case, the first of several which Saddam is expected to face in the coming months, including charges of genocide for attacks against Kurds in the 1980s.

More than 800 pages of evidence are said to have been gathered ahead of the Dujail trial. Saddam's chief lawyer, Khalil Dulaimi, says he has not been given nearly enough time to study it all or interview witnesses, limiting his defence.

An Iraqi with little experience of arguing major cases, particularly not those involving allegations of crimes against humanity, Dulaimi has said he intends to challenge the legitimacy of the court in motions to be presented on Wednesday.

The defence team backing him from London has said he will present a dossier of 122 points designed to show that the court, whose judges were chosen under US occupation, does not have jurisdiction over Saddam and is illegal.

In the run-up to the trial, human rights groups have raised concerns about the independence of the court and its ability to meet international standards for major criminal proceedings.

The trial will get under way amid intense security, unprecedented even for Iraq, with body searches, X-rays, deep background checks on observers, eye-scans and finger-printing.

The defendants will sit facing the judges, who will be on a raised dais behind court clerks. A curtain will protect the identity of witnesses, and bullet-proof glass will separate the few journalists and observers from the rest of the court.

The prosecution and defence lawyers -- each defendant can have his own representative -- will be allowed to question witnesses only via the judges, as Iraqi law dictates.

With less than 24 hours to go, it still has not been decided whether it will be carried live on TV or with a delay.

If proceedings are quickly adjourned, sources close to the court say it could be several weeks before they resume, probably after parliamentary elections are held in mid-December.

- REUTERS