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Who
Will Try Saddam? |
Posted:
12.17.03
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Now that the eight-month search for Saddam Hussein has ended,
the United States and leaders of the new Iraq must decide how
best to try one of the world's most wanted men.
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An international debate is underway. The question: should Saddam
be tried by a court made up solely of Iraqis or should an international
tribunal be created to judge the former dictator? If an Iraqi
court does try Saddam, he could face death.
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Iraqi court
vs. international court |
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On Tuesday, President Bush came out in support of trying Saddam
in an Iraqi court, and said that Saddam, believed to be in U.S.
custody in Baghdad, deserves the "ultimate" penalty
-- his spokesman later clarified that the president meant the
death penalty. Bush said the United States would hold Saddam until
an Iraqi court is prepared for a trial.
 But
international human rights groups have questioned whether Iraqi
judges and lawyers, trained under Saddam's regime, have the experience
or resources to carry out such a high-profile trial.
"Two independent reports which scrupulously looked at the
Iraqi judicial system very recently … concluded that Iraqis'
judicial system is chronically dysfunctional and absolutely incapable
of handling and prosecuting complex human rights trials of the
type that will be needed if Saddam Hussein is to be appropriately
prosecuted," said Paul Van Zyl, director of the International
Center for Transitional Justice.
One of Saddam's daughters has appealed to the United Nations,
saying that her father would not get a fair trial in Iraq.
Many Iraqis savor the idea of Saddam standing trial in front
of his own people.
"It's an atrocious suggestion that the people of Iraq ought
to forfeit the right to try the man who has brutalized them for
35 years and who is responsible for the deaths of 10 percent of
the people of Iraq," said Feisal Istrabadi, vice president
of the Iraqi Forum for Democracy. "We have the right to try
Saddam Hussein. We are his first victims."
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Debate over
the death penalty |
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Early in December, members of the Iraqi Governing Council, the
body in charge of rebuilding the Iraqi government, voted to establish
a war crimes tribunal.
 The
Iraqi tribunal would consist of five judges and a nine-member
appeals court. It would not adhere to United Nations standards
for war crimes courts. Unlike tribunals used for crimes committed
during conflicts in Rwanda, Yugoslavia and Sierra Leone and set
up under United Nations rules, the Iraqi tribunal would allow
for the death penalty.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has made it clear that the
United Nations opposes the death penalty in the case against Saddam
and other Iraqis. British Prime Minister Tony Blair, a close ally
of the United States during the Iraq war, also said Britain would
not participate in a death penalty trial.
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The charges |
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The Iraqi tribunal would try Saddam for crimes committed between
1968, when the dictator first took power, and May 1, 2003, when
President Bush declared major combat in the Iraq war over.
Saddam is accused of gassing thousands of Kurds in the 1980s
and also of the videotaped murders by members of his death  squads
of countless other people throughout his time as president. Kuwaiti
and Iranian officials also would like to try Saddam for crimes
committed during attacks on their two countries in the 1980s.
The United States, too, may bring charges for crimes committed
during the Persian Gulf conflict.
Iranian officials have called for an independent international
tribunal that would include an investigation of Western countries
like Russia and the United States, who they say aided Saddam during
the Iran-Iraq War by providing weapons and support.
--
Kristina Nwazota, Online NewsHour
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Joplin was able to rise from the ashes because of help from everyone. And I am eternally grateful to anyone who made that possible.
