NAJAF, Iraq, Oct 18 (Reuters) Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said today he hoped legal proceedings against former president Saddam Hussein would be short and that he would be found guilty and sentenced to death soon.
The Shi'ite prime minister's comments come just one month after his government sacked the chief judge trying Saddam on genocide charges, saying he had sacrificed his neutrality by stating the ousted leader was not a dictator.
That prompted criticism by some international legal rights groups, who have said government pressure and sectarian violence in Iraq make a fair trial of Saddam impossible.
Maliki met Moqtada al-Sadr today in the holy city of Najaf and held a joint news conference afterwards with the powerful Shi'ite cleric who heads the Mehdi Army militia and whose followers are in the government.
Asked about Saddam's trials, Maliki said: ''God willing the trial will not last a long time. God willing the death sentence verdict will be issued soon against the tyrant Saddam and his followers.'' A verdict is expected as early as November 5 in the first case brought against Saddam, which relates to killings in the Shi'ite village of Dujail in the 1980s. The chief judge in that trial quit in protest against government interference.
ANFAL CAMPAIGN A second trial is in progress against Saddam and his cousin Ali Hassan al-Majeed, known as ''Chemical Ali'', and five others for war crimes and crimes against humanity for their role in the 1988 Anfal campaign against ethnic Kurds.
Saddam and Majeed also face the graver charge of genocide. All could be hanged if convicted.
Both trials have examined crimes against Shi'ites and Kurds, long oppressed under Saddam's Sunni-led rule but empowered after his fall, leading to international concerns about political score-settling and interference.
Maliki, whose Shi'ite-dominated government is battling to keep the lid on increasingly bloody sectarian violence, said executing Saddam would help Iraq.
''Definitely with the execution of Saddam and the criminals with him, those who are laying their bets on coming back to power under the banner of Saddam will find their gamble fails,'' he said at the news conference.
Though the verdict in the first trial could come as soon as November 5, any execution could be delayed by appeals and by the up to a dozen other cases the toppled leader could face.
The genocide trial continued today with testimony from two Kurdish witnesses who described their villages being bombed by the army and how they were transferred to detention centres and saw prisoners shot in the head.
REUTERS AB VV1958
The Shi'ite prime minister's comments come just one month after his government sacked the chief judge trying Saddam on genocide charges, saying he had sacrificed his neutrality by stating the ousted leader was not a dictator.
That prompted criticism by some international legal rights groups, who have said government pressure and sectarian violence in Iraq make a fair trial of Saddam impossible.
Maliki met Moqtada al-Sadr today in the holy city of Najaf and held a joint news conference afterwards with the powerful Shi'ite cleric who heads the Mehdi Army militia and whose followers are in the government.
Asked about Saddam's trials, Maliki said: ''God willing the trial will not last a long time. God willing the death sentence verdict will be issued soon against the tyrant Saddam and his followers.'' A verdict is expected as early as November 5 in the first case brought against Saddam, which relates to killings in the Shi'ite village of Dujail in the 1980s. The chief judge in that trial quit in protest against government interference.
ANFAL CAMPAIGN A second trial is in progress against Saddam and his cousin Ali Hassan al-Majeed, known as ''Chemical Ali'', and five others for war crimes and crimes against humanity for their role in the 1988 Anfal campaign against ethnic Kurds.
Saddam and Majeed also face the graver charge of genocide. All could be hanged if convicted.
Both trials have examined crimes against Shi'ites and Kurds, long oppressed under Saddam's Sunni-led rule but empowered after his fall, leading to international concerns about political score-settling and interference.
Maliki, whose Shi'ite-dominated government is battling to keep the lid on increasingly bloody sectarian violence, said executing Saddam would help Iraq.
''Definitely with the execution of Saddam and the criminals with him, those who are laying their bets on coming back to power under the banner of Saddam will find their gamble fails,'' he said at the news conference.
Though the verdict in the first trial could come as soon as November 5, any execution could be delayed by appeals and by the up to a dozen other cases the toppled leader could face.
The genocide trial continued today with testimony from two Kurdish witnesses who described their villages being bombed by the army and how they were transferred to detention centres and saw prisoners shot in the head.
REUTERS AB VV1958
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