Iraq prepares tribunal statute

The Iraqi Governing Council within weeks is expected to create a war-crime tribunal to prosecute Saddam Hussein and those responsible for atrocities committed under his decades-long rule.

The U.S.-appointed council intends to announce the final statute establishing the court and present it to Iraq’s U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer for his approval, opening the way for Saddam — if he is caught — to be brought to trial.

“It is something I expect to see occurring within the coming weeks,” said Pierre-Richard Prosper, the State Department’s envoy on war-crime issues.

According to State Department officials and an Iraqi-American lawyer advising the Governing Council, the draft statute is in an advanced stage and the council is eager to move forward with it.

Under the statute, the proposed crime categories include genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Iraqis already in U.S. custody — such as the notorious Gen. Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as Chemical Ali, and the scientist Rihab Taha al-Azawi, dubbed Dr. Germ — would likely be the first high-profile cases to be tried.

President Bush has insisted that those found guilty of war crimes in Iraq would be punished. “War criminals will be hunted relentlessly and judged severely,” he said in a March address to the military, in the early days of the war.

Meanwhile, at the United Nations, the world’s Islamic countries gave a nod to Iraq’s Governing Council yesterday and called for officials of Saddam’s deposed regime to be brought to justice for mass killings.

Foreign ministers from the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference also called on group members to provide “all forms of support and assistance to meet Iraq’s needs” so the war-torn country can quickly get back on its feet.

The statement was sure to be a psychological boost to the U.S. and British military in Baghdad.

The proposed sentences for the crimes are still being worked on.

“It’s something that the Iraqi leadership is grappling with: their desire to have a wide range of punishments available while recognizing there are members of the international community who do not support the death penalty,” a State Department official said.

The drafters of the statute are aware that the tribunal would have a higher standing internationally if it were recognized by the world community. Many European and U.N. member countries are against the death penalty.

The court will also need considerable international financial assistance.

“There is creative thinking taking place,” Mr. Prosper said of the final discussions on the sentencing guidelines.

Iraqi-American lawyer Sermid Al-Sarraf, who has advised the Governing Council’s subcommittee responsible for drafting the statute, said Iraqi and international lawyers, human rights groups and local civic organizations overwhelmingly agreed on the need for a national tribunal of Iraqis with international support — rather than an international court.

“The international community is not seen as impartial; it doesn’t come with clean hands because it is viewed as having failed in its obligations to address the crimes of Saddam,” Mr. Al-Sarraf said.

Full investigations into the crimes will start as soon as the statute is signed by both the council and the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority, and indictments and charges are expected to follow soon afterward.

“From what I saw from my visit, there is a clear thirst for justice and a calling for accountability,” Mr. Prosper said.

The tribunal’s work “will be important for society to move forward and come to terms with the past,” he said.

Bringing key players in Saddam’s network of repression as well as the actual torturers and executioners to trial is seen as a critical step in Iraq’s social recovery, as well as a way to unite a country that is in danger of dissolving into ethnic and religious discord.

“When an entire population has been aggrieved, this is something that can be agreed upon — justice and accountability — because they were all victims,” Mr. Prosper said.

“I think this is critical,” agreed Mr. Al-Sarraf, adding that Saddam’s politically motivated torture and executions “really cut the spectrum: It was Sunni, Shi’ite, Christian, communists, secularists, Islamists.”

Although it could be months or years before any high-profile cases like Chemical Ali — who is believed to be responsible for the gassing of thousands of Kurds in the mid- to late 1980s — take the stand, the process itself will convince the Iraqis that the rule of law will prevail, a State Department official said.

Questions also remain on how and when the United States would hand over the 38 persons in coalition custody from the list of 55 most-wanted Iraqis, although not all of them are wanted for war crimes.

“Right now those individuals are being questioned, interrogated and exploited for intelligence value. The U.S. may have an interest in retaining those individuals in custody until they have exhausted their value, then probably work with the Iraqis to perhaps turn them over,” the official said.

The United States may also want to prosecute some Iraqis on charges of crimes against American soldiers in both the 1991 Persian Gulf war and the latest conflict.

While U.S. officials insist that setting up the tribunal is an Iraqi-led process, the coalition authority has worked closely with the Governing Council in putting together the draft statute.

U.S. attorneys and policy experts within the departments of State, Defense and Justice also have looked at the draft and provided substantial comments and suggestions.

“The statute is in keeping with our policy,” the official said. But “we are trying to minimize our fingerprints on this. We want the Iraqi people to see this as an Iraqi process. We may assist in getting it up and running, then have less and less direct involvement.”

Once it becomes law, the statute on the tribunal will be one of the entities the Iraqis will have to take into account when they begin drafting their constitution. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell has said he would like to see a constitution completed within the next six months.