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| Iraq to set up tribunal to punish war crimes
BAGHDAD, Oct 30 (AFP) - An Iraqi Special Tribunal (IST) will shortly be set up where Iraqi judges will try crimes against humanity, war crimes and charges of genocide and torture, a member of the interim governing council told AFP. The tribunal's statutes have already been drawn up and should be published in early November, said Nuredin Dara, who is also a judge. Serious & personalized business, investment and technology intelligence for a serious advantage - BizVantage! About 60 Iraqis will sit on the body, assisted by international magistrates who worked on criminal cases in Rwanda and Kosovo. "The tribunal will try those who planned, ordered and/or carried out crimes against humanity, war crimes, genocide, torture," Dara said. Iraq's penal code does not recognise genocide, war crimes or crimes against humanity. "These crimes will be judged on the basis of international law," he said. Murder, torture and rape would be judged under Iraq's 1969 penal code which was amended in June to remove the death sentence and legislation introduced by the former regime of Saddam Hussein. David Hodgkinson, who heads a transitional justice service under the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) and is co-sponsoring the setting up of the tribunal, said the statutes were inspired by those of other international courts including on the former Yugoslavia. A report drawn up by a group of exiled Iraqi lawyers set up in July 2002 and working under the US State Department was also used as a basis, said an Iraqi adviser to the CPA. Published in March, it recommends that Saddam and his senior officials be judged according to international law for which there is neither a statute of limitation nor amnesty. Saddam and cronies stand accused of gassing Iranian forces during the 1980-1988 war as well as the Kurdish population, including thousands of women and children, and brutally repressing Shiite and Kurdish uprisings in the aftermath of the 1991 Gulf war. Tens of thousands of people have also disappeared. "If you look historically, tribunals like this have not been able to prosecute thousands," admitted Hodgkinson. "They prosecute for instance 50. This is one issue the tribunal will have to determine for themselves about the capacity of the court to try 500 or 1, 000 people. "This will be a very difficult challenge for them. The number of perpetrators or alleged criminals run into the thousands." Officially the list of those who should face trial has yet to be drawn up but procedures to decide exactly who should go before the IST are almost worked out. Speed is of the essence if the many people of Iraq who demand that justice be done after decades of dictatorship and atrocities are to be satisfied and a process of reconciliation started. "Resentment is strong," said Said Batrouni, who works at the CPA's human rights office recording testimony from victims of the old regime. But the CPA does not expect a first IST trial to take place before the middle of next year, given the time required to appoint judges, gather evidence, investigate and issue charges. dp/sk/bp/mb Iraq-justice-tribunal
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