Who Will Judge Saddam? Former British MP Tony Benn Discusses

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Who Will Judge Saddam? Former British MP Tony Benn Discusses the Prosecution of Iraq’s Former Leader

Saddam Hussein's family wants the former Iraqi leader to be tried by an international court instead of a special tribunal set up by the U.S.-installed Iraqi Governing Council.

His daughter, Raghad Saddam Hussein, said her father appeared sedated in footage released after his capture saying, “He would be a lion even when caged.”

Iraq’s U.S.-appointed Governing Council members are confident that Saddam will be tried before the special war crimes tribunal and could face the death penalty. Council members told the Associated Press the trial will be televised and could begin as soon as the next few weeks or as late as summer.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said yesterday the UN would not support bringing Saddam before a tribunal that might sentence him to death. In Britain, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw stated that while Britain opposes the death penalty, it will respect an Iraqi courts' decision about the fate of Saddam Hussein.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=03/12/16/161242

I hope they publish the transcript later today.

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A group of Arab lawyers has cast doubt on the Iraqi authority's ability to give Saddam Hussein a fair trial.

Hasan Majally, head of the Jordanian Union of Lawyers, told Aljazeera.net on Monday that the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council "does not possess the potential to establish a just and professional court".

But Majally said his organisation hoped to defend Saddam Hussein if he were put on trial.

"Defending President Saddam is defending international legitimacy because we believe that occupation is the ugliest experience man can go through," he said. "He and everyone on this earth put on trial has the right to defend himself. "I think when President Saddam finds out that the committee which will defend him is comprised of Arab lawyers from different Arab countries he will accept because he is a pan-Arab figure."

Majally said he would expect the US to block his group's efforts. "However, I think they are fully aware that they do not need another scandal."

<http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/E889BC35-A2AB-4614-A54B-FCCB407EBFCC.htm>