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Special court for trial of Saddam, aides

AFP, Baghdad
A special court in the Iraqi justice system could try Saddam Hussein and officials of his former regime for crimes against the Iraqi people, the new US senior advisor to Iraq's justice ministry, Clint Williamson, announced here Thursday.
"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, headed by Saddam.
"There is a broad consensus that crimes against the Iraqi people
be handled by Iraqi justice.
"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," Williamson said on leaving the court in the Baghdad district of Al-Azamiya where work resumed officially Thursday.
"Prosecution involving crimes on a large scale will mobilise the system for years. So we need to set up some sort of special arrangements to deal with it," he said.
Saddam, whose regime was
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toppled a month ago by a US-led military coalition, is still at large, and it is uncertain whether he is dead or alive. So far some 20 former officials have been captured by or surrendered to coalition forces.
One other court in the Baghdad district of Al-Bayaa also opened Thursday under the supervision of Iraqi judges.
"In a week or two, we will be sending assessment teams in all regions of the country" to get the legal system up and running again, Williamson said.
"The basic law is the same, the 1969 criminal law.
"Since 1969, a number of amendments were made, they're inconsistent with international standards like the Geneva and the Hague conventions. Those will be suspended," such as the law banning the insulting of the president, he said.
"The law was a good system, but the manner in which it was applied was wrong."
Iraqi judge Ibrahim Malik al-Hindawi said, however, that the 1969 law will be applied with no amendment made to it because "legislative power is the sole way of introducing such amendments and we will therefore wait for a new power to be put in place" before changing the law.
Iraqi judges "refuse the interference of any party in their work," he said in reference to coalition forces, adding that "any foreigner who commits an act against Iraqi law will be judged conforming to Iraqi law."
Asked about the chances of trying former Iraqi officials at local courts, Hindawi said that "Iraqi law
is applicable to all Iraqis, whatever their position."
Nine Iraqis, arrested by US forces or Iraqi police and accused of either robbery or murder, have appeared before four judges in a preliminary court hearing.
According to Hindawi, no case will be opened in the coming days because investigations into the alleged crimes were not yet complete.