US to hand Saddam Hussein over to Iraq within two weeks

Producer: Felix Tan
First broadcast: 15 June 04, Radio Singapore International

The International Committee of the Red Cross or ICRC has said that ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein must either be freed or charged before the handover of power to the Iraqi interim government.

Saddam Hussein has been in US custody in an undisclosed location since his capture last December.

The United States has since then said that they will hand Saddam Hussein over to the new Iraqi government for trial within two weeks.

But why the need to charge Saddam Hussein before the June 30th handover?

Felix Tan put this question to Mr Aldo Borgu (AB), a military and defence expert at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute:

AB: Well, essentially, the ICRC is saying that based on international law, once the US actually finishes its effectual formal occupation of Iraq& essentially, according to the Geneva Convention, they are obliged either to basically hand over the people or prisoners to the new governmental authority or release them. So, my understanding is that at this stage, the US is looking at handing Saddam over to the interim government. And then it will be up to them as to what happens to his trial.

I also understand that Saddam Hussein will be subjected to Iraqi law. But what sort of trial will he be facing, I mean, who will be judging him and what are the terms under the Iraqi law?

AB: Well, that is the kind of things that have to be worked out. I mean, there is a semblance of Iraqi law operating at the moment. I mean, they have been appointing some judges and one of the priorities is actually to do that. So& but base on the fact that we are dealing with a lot of unknowns, I would not expect everything to happen in a hurry. You know, notably because they are going to have a lot of these basis to the law, the basis of the prosecution and everything - together and formalise and so, again, I will be very surprised something happens very quickly.

What happens if on June 30th Saddam Hussein has not been charged, now, what is the possibility that he might be extradited to the International Court of Justice in The Hague then?

AB: I will be very surprised if that would happen. I mean, in effect, if he is not charged by then, nothing will happen, I mean, yes, he will still be a prisoner of the United States-slash-the Iraqi administration because I do not think people can really overstate or should not overstate the importance of the 30th June deadline. I mean, the 30th of June is largely a very symbolic date as opposed to, you know, handing over real authority over to the Iraqi people. In affect, the Americans will still be in control in Iraq and they would not be formally - in the legal sense - certainly in a practical way, they will still be pulling a lot of the strings around there. And I just cannot see them handing over to a international court - not least because it is actually important for the development of Iraq - the democratization of Iraq - that Iraqis themselves undertake this task rather than the international community.

But does the Iraqi law stipulate that this is possible& for whatever reasons, maybe the United States might want to extradite him to the ICJ in The Hague& I mean, will the Iraqi law be able to allow such a thing to happen?

AB: Well, the US can do whatever it likes, I mean, if it wanted to do that, it could. But I cannot see the US doing that. Mostly because it would be actually an effective vote of no-confidence in the Iraqi people themselves of being able to actually try Saddam for the crimes that he actually committed against the Iraqi people. And that said, it will be important for the political rebuilding of Iraq and the US will actually be creating a major headache for itself. And it would undermine everything that it has been working towards if it would actually make that decision.

Given the carnage in Iraq since the US-led coalition, so-called liberated Iraq, how important is the trial of Saddam Hussein to the Iraqis?

AB: Very much so, I mean, it is very important. That being said, people should not think that the trial of Saddam is going to have any sort of impact on the insurgency. I mean, they are two separate things. I think there is a tendency within the US administration circles to essentially blame a lot of the violence in Iraq on Saddam loyalists. I think the resistant to the US occupation goes much wider than that and it is just basically false to characterise that it is just Saddam loyalists and Baathists that are out to undermine the United States. But it is really still important. So, whilst it will not have any impact on the insurgency, it is important in terms of the Iraqis themselves being able to rebuild a future - post-Saddam. So, I mean, it will be an important factor of closing the chapter on Saddam and then rebuilding Iraq for the future.

Now, what sort of role will the United Nations play in this trial or even countries in the Middle East, such as Iran?

AB: Certainly the United Nations would probably have more of an advisory role than anything else. And certainly in terms of assisting the Iraqis to actually develop a justice system and fully develop it through. In relations to Iran, there will be a lot of things that are said, not least because the Iranians would like to see Saddam tried for war crimes against themselves because of the 1980 to 1988 war with Iran and the use of chemical weapons, the torture of prisoners and all these sorts of issues. But effectively, there is not much they may be able to do. This will be an Iraqi issue.