hand over Saddam Hussein to Iraqi authorities

[Hellfighter]

Saddam handover in dispute
Iraqi says he will be handed over by end of June
for trial; Pentagon says no date has been set for tranferThe Associated Press
Updated: 1:45 p.m. ET May 11, 2004KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait - The head of Iraq’s war-crimes tribunal said Tuesday that the United States has pledged to hand over Saddam Hussein and about 100 other former regime prisoners to Iraqi authorities by June 30. The Pentagon disputed the claim.

A Pentagon spokesman said a date had not been set for handing Saddam back to Iraqi officials. Nor had it been determined when and where Saddam would be tried, the spokesman said on condition of anonymity.

The United States plans to return sovereignty to a new Iraqi government by that date.

Salem Chalabi told reporters that trials would begin early next year, and that judges would receive “files” on the suspects at the end of this year.

“We will put 100 people ... including Saddam Hussein, on trial,” he said. The suspects, he added, “will be delivered to us by the coalition before the transfer of power.”

He said the suspects to be handed over include Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as “Chemical Ali” for his use of chemical weapons against the Kurds in the 1980s. Chalabi has said al-Majid could be one of the first to stand trial.

No charges filed yet
Tariq Aziz, Saddam’s former deputy prime minister, also will be handed over, he said. Aziz is in U.S. custody but he is not on the U.S. “most-wanted” list and it was unclear what charges he might face.

U.S. officials, who are holding Saddam in an undisclosed location, have said they will turn him over to the tribunal, set up to try him and other leaders of his former government. In April, that tribunal appointed judges and prosecutors.

No charges have yet been filed, but human rights groups have said the tribunal expects to try leaders for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The United States estimates that Saddam’s government killed at least 300,000 Iraqis during its rule. Some human rights groups say the number is closer to 1 million.

It was not clear who will represent Saddam at his trial, but a Jordanian lawyer, Mohammad Rashdan, has said he and 19 other attorneys have been named as defense lawyers by Saddam’s first wife, Sajida Khairallah Telfah.

Rashdan said Monday that his defense team was “deeply concerned” about Saddam’s welfare in U.S. custody after revelations of U.S. Military Police humiliating and abusing prisoners in their care.

Chalabi has said the lead attorney needs to be Iraqi, but that other members of the team can come from other countries.

Trials to be televised
Chalabi arrived in Kuwait on a flight from Tehran, Iran. He was visiting both countries to collect evidence against the suspects. He acknowledged that the prosecutions will be a complicated task.

“We collected a lot of evidence, but the problem is in coordinating it,” he said.

Iraqi leaders have said the trials will be televised in the interest of exposing Saddam’s atrocities and beginning a process of national healing.

They had earlier predicted Saddam’s trial could begin as early as this summer, but the complexities of organizing the trial made that unrealistic. Many Iraqis have said Saddam’s verdict — guilty — and sentence — death — are a foregone conclusion, but tribunal officials have insisted the trial will be fair.

Saddam was captured on Dec. 13 hiding in a hole in the small farming village of Adwar, a short drive from his hometown of Tikrit north of Baghdad.

New's Page Link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4952674/?GT1=3391

[bahamut]

what happened to saddam is he here in the u.s.???? i havent heard anything

[Hellfighter]

he's over there in some location, he not in the USA or the UK. if he was new's would gotting out real fast. dang them CNN they hear too much eheh

[bahamut]

lol yea they do

[Hellfighter]

will if he's any place it be in KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait US-Military prison or in Germany hosp and the Military has him in their prison some place in a US-Military base some place only a guess.

by the way he is not in Cuba at all.

1.) KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait US-Military prison 80% he be there or near the border to Iraq.
2.) Germany US-Military/hosp-prison system. 75% he there.
3.) Cuba US-Base 2% is there.
4.) Iraq In US-Military 99%

[Lakie]

Last i heard he was in Qatar and was going to be transfered to Ramstein.

[atholon]

I don't think we should let him get handed over to his people, for all we know they'd bow down and worship him. I hold them in a very low esteem. People that desecrate human bodies of civilians don't deserve justice. They deserve what they had before!

[SilentTrigger]

Originally posted by atholon
I don't think we should let him get handed over to his people, for all we know they'd bow down and worship him. I hold them in a very low esteem. People that desecrate human bodies of civilians don't deserve justice. They deserve what they had before!

It should be the Irakies choise.