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"They all will be given up to the Iraqi government," said Allawi
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DOHA,
June 15 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The US occupation
authorities in Iraq will hand hover ousted Iraqi president Saddam
Hussein and other former officials to the new Iraqi government for trial
within two weeks, Iraq’s interim prime minister Iyad Allawi said
Monday, June 14.
"The
transfer of Saddam
Hussein and the others will take place within two
weeks," Allawi told the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television.
"They
all will be given up to the Iraqi government. Their trial will begin as
soon as possible, God willing," he stressed.
All
Iraqi detainees and "Saddam as well will be handed to the Iraqi
government, and you can consider this as an official confirmation,"
Allawi said.
US
forces have said they will continue to hold up to 5,000 prisoners
believed to be a threat to their forces even after the June 30 power
transfer.
They
say as many as 1,400 detainees will either be released or transferred to
Iraqi authorities.
Iraqi
Interior Minister Falah Al-Naqib also told the Doha-based broadcaster
Monday that Saddam would be tried in public by Iraqi judges.
US
occupation troops captured the former strongman of Iraq in December as
he was discovered
hiding in a small hole at a farm near his hometown of Tikrit.
The
US Defense Department named Saddam a
prisoner of war after much legal wrangling and held him
at an unknown location.
Law
experts had said that Saddam should
stand an Iraqi trial under Arab-International supervision
to guarantee a fair trail.
The
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Monday, June 14,
that Saddam must either be
released from the custody of the US occupation or charged
by June 30, when the new Iraqi government takes over in accordance with
international law.
"Holding
prisoners of war, civilian detainees and security detainees after this
date is in contravention of international humanitarian law if there is
no charge brought against them or if [they are] not serving a jail
sentence," ICRC spokeswoman Nada Doumani said.
The
ICRC has made at least two visits to the deposed leader. Around 44 other
members of the ousted Iraqi regime are also held in unknown US detention
camp.
A
20-member defense team appointed by Saddam's family has complained about
not being able to meet him and accused the US authorities of holding him
in breach of the Geneva Conventions.
Saddam
is likely to be tried for the persecution of the Shiites in southern
Iraq in the 1980s and 1990s, as well as for alleged war crimes against
Kuwait, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Iran
is also believed to be preparing a formal complaint against him for the
torture of Iranian prisoners captured during the 1980-1988 Iraqi-Iranian
war.
