Saddam's October trial may be delayed
(AFP)
Updated: 2005-10-06 10:11

A senior British official said that ousted president Saddam Hussein's trial, due to start this month, may be postponed until after December elections in Iraq.

Any delay to the October 19 start date would not be for political reasons but practical ones, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

For example bullet proof screens and witness protection programmes had to be provided, he said.

"I think there are some logistical problems. There are a lot of things they haven't got round to yet," the official told reporters in London.

Former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein at his initial appearance before the Iraqi Special Tribunal in Baghdad in this file photo handed out July 21, 2005.[Reuters]

The toppled president, who may also face trial over gassing Kurds, murdering rivals and using violence to suppress uprisings, has been in US custody since December 2003.

The British official also warned of a rise in violence before a planned referendum on the new Iraqi constitution on October 15 and also ahead of the December polls.

"That is what the security forces are preparing for. There are a lot of people who don't want this process to succeed," he said.

Saddam defense team lacks funds: lawyer

Saddam Hussein's family has no money to pay for his defense and his legal team is demanding that either the Iraqi court trying him or the media provide the funds, his Iraqi lawyer revealed.

With the former Iraqi dictator to stand trial over a Shiite massacre in just two weeks, Khalil Dulaimi said that until now his team had been providing its services for free because Saddam's family "had no money to cover his expenses."

He said his team had failed to raise the money from "rich Arabs, including those who had amassed fortunes in doing business with Iraq."

Pointing his finger at the Special Tribunal that will be trying Saddam and seven former cohorts from October 19, Dulaimi said it had spent at least 500 million dollars preparing its case.

He said his team had asked the court for funds to cover their costs, but had received no response.

Dulaimi added that he would make no further statements to the media until the tribunal "applies the law and covers the expenses of the lawyers" or until the media do.

Saddam and seven others are charged in connection with the massacre of 143 people in the Shiite village of Dujail in 1982 following an attempt on his life there.

Senior former officials to be tried with him are ex-vice president Taha Yassin Ramadan, Saddam's half-brother and former intelligence boss Barzan Ibrahim al-Hassan and a former deputy chief in Saddam's cabinet, Awad Ahmed al-Bandar.

The other four -- Abdullah Khadem Ruweid, Mezhar Abdullah Ruweid, Ali Daeh and Mohammed Azzam al-Ali -- are former ruling Baath party officials responsible for the Dujail area.

Dulaimi has been requesting a delay, claiming that the defence had not been informed about the trial date and had not given it full access to Saddam himself or full details of the charges against him.

The court, however, said it had told the defense in September of the trial would and that it had been provided with all the evidence obtained in the case.