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[Pattergen]

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq (news - web sites)'s new authorities took legal control of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) and 11 key deputies Wednesday, the government said, setting the stage for a trial for alleged war crimes during the deposed leader's 24 years in power.

In a one line statement, Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's office said the Iraqis had assumed legal — but not physical — control, "today, 30th June, at 10:15 in the morning." The 12 defendants are expected to appear in court on Thursday for a formal reading of the charges.

"The first step has happened," Salem Chalabi, the director of the Iraqi Special Tribunal, told The Associated Press. "I met with him (Saddam) earlier today to explain his rights and what will happen."

He refused to elaborate.

The defendants were informed individually of their rights, said an international official who spoke on condition of anonymity. An Iraqi judge witnessed the proceedings.

More at the link: Source

Saddam will remain in a U.S.-controlled jail guarded by Americans until the Iraqis are ready to take physical custody of him. That is expected to take a long time.

However, the legal transfer means that Saddam and the others are no longer prisoners of war — subject to rights under the Geneva Conventions — but criminal defendants whose treatment will be in accordance with Iraqi law. The change in status gives them the right to attorneys.

Chalabi said earlier that the trials of Saddam and other senior figures likely would not begin before 2005.

L. Paul Bremer, the former U.S. administrator, said he was confident that the Iraqis would handle the trials well.

Saddam "will get the kind of justice he denied his own people," Bremer told ABC's "Good Morning America." "It's a wonderful day for the Iraqis to get him under their direct control. It will be a major event."

 

[fart]

shouldn't this be happening in international courts?

 

[shoplifter]

shouldn't this be happening in international courts?

It doesn't have to, iirc.

 

[Ripclawe]

shouldn't this be happening in international courts?

Hell No.

if slobo's trial is any indication, Saddam would be found not guilty and rewarded money for his pain and suffering.

 

[Tommie Hu$tle]

shouldn't this be happening in international courts?

Only if you want other nations dirty landry put in the streets.

 

[Pattergen]

I wonder how long Saddam is going to be a prisoner of Iraq, in an American prison... I guess it really wouldn't be a good idea to send him back for awhile.

 

[darscot]

More stuff for the press. The US will have a complete say in what happens to Saddam this is just PR.