Former Iraqi Dictator Saddam Hussein, Facing Trial Wednesday (CNN)

From the Washington Post, this update on the upcoming Hussein tribunal entitled, Victims' Relatives Await Hussein Trial:

A source close to the special Iraqi tribunal that will hear the case has said that although the trial will start this week, it will likely be delayed after a day or two of hearing motions and resolving technical issues that surround the historic and yet untested legal proceedings. It is not clear when the court would reconvene.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, described the start of proceedings this week as "the beginning of an ongoing process." But the source added, "I don't think this will be a process dragged out by technicalities."

Hussein will be tried by a five-judge panel under a mixture of international law and Iraqi criminal law. If convicted, he could face the same fate as the 143 men from Dujail.

That bothers Human Rights Watch, the organization that sees fit to defend some of planet Earth's least defensible humans:

In a report released Sunday, Human Rights Watch raised questions about whether the Iraqi Special Tribunal, the court set up to hear cases against former officials in Hussein's government, could be fair and impartial. Among the U.S.-based monitoring group's concerns are the application of the death penalty without any possibility of clemency and the requirement that a sentence be carried out within 30 days after a final appeal is heard and concluded.

The Dujail trial "will be commencing in a political context of considerable instability and uncertainty," the group's report said. "In such a context, it is essential that the trials be fair and be seen to be fair so that accusations that the trials amount to 'victors' justice' do not gain credence."

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Posted by Centrist to JAG CENTRAL at 10/17/2005 05:28:00 AM