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"There
is a broad consensus that crimes against the Iraqi people be
handled by Iraqi justice," said Williamson
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BAGHDAD,
May 8 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - A "special"
Iraqi tribunal could be set up to try toppled Iraqi president Saddam
Hussein, if caught, and members of his regime for crimes against the
Iraqi people, a top U.S. law official said Thursday, May 8.
"There
is a broad consensus that crimes against the Iraqi people be handled
by Iraqi justice," said Clint Williamson, the senior U.S. advisor
to Iraq's justice ministry.
"We
think the Iraqis should have the lead on that," Williamson said
of the prosecution of the 55 top Iraqi
officials on Washington's most-wanted list with Saddam as the ace of spades,
reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"Prosecution
involving crimes on a large scale will immobilise the system for
years. So we need to set up some sort of special arrangements to deal
with it," said Williamson.
"It
has to be clarified and the details have to be determined, but it will
probably take place within the broad premises of the Iraqi
justice."
Asked
about the chances of trying former Iraqi officials in local courts,
Iraqi judge Ibrahim Malik al-Hindawi said "Iraqi law is
applicable to all Iraqis, whatever their position."
He
stressed that Iraqi judges "refuse the interference of any party
in their work," in reference to the U.S.-led forces.
"Any
foreigner who commits an act against Iraqi law will be judged
conforming to Iraqi law," he argued.
Saddam’s
whereabouts is still unknown and it is uncertain whether he is dead or
alive. So far some 20 former officials have been captured by or
surrendered to the U.S.-led troops.
On
March 31, the U.S. administration unveiled that it
might ship some detained Iraqi civilians - accused by the U.S. of belonging to
paramilitary squads - to the controversial detention center at its
naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Courts
Reopened
Williamson
said the reopening of the Iraqi court marked an important day in
restoring the normal functioning of civil society.
"In
a week or two, we will be sending assessment teams to all regions of
the country to get the legal system up and running again," said
the American advisor.
"The
basic law is the same, the 1969 criminal law…The law was a good
system, but the manner in which it was applied was wrong," he
added.
Williamson
was talking after the resumption of legal proceedings in the criminal
court in the northwestern Baghdad district of Al-Azamiya.
In
a well-orchestrated show for the media, U.S. soldiers pulled down a
photo of Saddam Hussein over the main entrance of the court.
A
court in Baghdad's Al-Bayaa district also opened under the supervision
of Iraqi judges.
While
the stairwells were washed clean, the courthouse's smashed windows and
doors were testament to the widespread destruction from looting that
followed Saddam's fall
from power.
Around
20 workers were back at their desks on Thursday, unsure about the
future.
"We
get no salary. I have five children and my husband, a soldier, is in
the house," said Eqbal Osman Mohammed.
