Saddam trial edging forward

BAGHDAD - Judges in the trial of Saddam Hussein raced against time to take testimony from a cancer patient in hospital but there were signs on Monday that politics may put the brakes on the process for some time.

Former intelligence officer Wadah al-Sheikh gave evidence to three judges on Sunday, the tribunal hearing the case said in a statement. The presiding judge, who last week adjourned the trial on its first day until November 28, had said Sheikh was so ill his testimony could not wait until public hearings resumed.

But Iraqi government officials say little substantive progress in the trial of Saddam and seven others for crimes against humanity in the killing of 148 Shi'ite men from the town of Dujail is likely before a parliamentary election on December 15.

"The hearing on November 28 - if it happens at all - won't last more than two or three hours before it's adjourned again until after the election, or indeed until a new government is formed," a senior government official, not directly involved in the judicial process, told Reuters.

Tribunal officials were not available for comment.

Human rights groups have raised the alarm about how current politics may play a part in the trial -- a concern that has sharpened since the murder of one of the defence attorneys sparked renewed accusations of sectarian violence involving government forces.

Defence lawyers boycotted Sunday's testimony in protest.

The start date of the trial on October 19 - just four days after a constitutional referendum - was announced by the government, as opposed to the judiciary, after several political leaders had called for a rapid start to proceedings.

Though government and court officials and US diplomats sponsoring the proceedings all stress the prime role of the judges and the absence of political pressure, it was evident on the first day that much was not ready for the trial.

Aside from technical problems with courtroom equipment, independent observers said the prosecutor seemed unprepared and the defence insisted it needed another three months to put its case.

POLITICAL INTERESTS

Government sources say the Dujail case was chosen to begin what is likely to be a series of trials in part because it involved the killings of members of the Shi'ite Islamist Dawa party, now led by Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari.

Analysts have also pointed to interest in Washington, where the occupation of Iraq has lost popularity, in presenting the trial as a justification for invasion; the US ambassador to Baghdad issued a statement within half an hour of the end of the first day's session, praising it as a step toward democracy.

The senior Iraqi government official, expressing irritation with the haste others in the leadership had displayed in pushing for the trial to start, said: "The trial was not satisfying. It appeared that it has been done in a hurry."

With many Iraqis, especially among the Shi'ite majority and their Kurdish allies, keen to see swift punishment for Saddam, the government does appear to be under pressure to show progress in the trials, especially around key moments like elections.

"All kinds of political actors will be trying to spin the procedures to their own political ends in one way or another, be that the US ambassador, the prime minister, the defence lawyers, the judge or the prosecutor," Richard Dicker of Human Rights Watch said after watching the hearing in Baghdad.

Miranda Sissons of the International Center for Transitional Justice noted in her report on the first day that political leaders rather than victims' relatives predominated in the visitors gallery.

"The problem will occur if judges are not able to insulate the tribunal against that influence," Dicker said. "If they are unable to do that, then there are going to be serious questions about the tribunal's fairness and credibility."

- REUTERS