A new Iraqi war crimes court will not be ready to try Saddam Hussein for months, and could let judges from other countries take part in the trial, one of the tribunal's architects said Tuesday. 

Rights groups say a tribunal set up under the US-led occupation smacks of victor's justice in Iraq, though US President George W. Bush has said he would work with Iraqis to ensure any trial meets international standards.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he would not back the death penalty for the former Iraqi leader ousted in the US-led invasion of Iraq, and Britain - the closest US war ally - ruled out any role in a trial leading to Saddam's execution.

Dara Nooraldin, an Iraqi judge and member of Iraq's US-appointed Governing Council who helped draft the court's charter, said the court would not be ready to try anyone for months and that any decision to execute Saddam would be in the hands of a transitional government set to be formed next year.

Nooraldin, a Baghdad judge imprisoned under Saddam's rule, bristled at the suggestion that Iraq's captive strongman and other potential defendants in the tribunal set up last week could not get fair trials in their own country.

"I am astounded that anyone could judge this court as compromised before the trials begin and the court's procedures are seen," he said.

"These crimes were committed in Iraq, it (the court) concerns Iraq and the Iraqi people. The court and the judges must be Iraqi."

But having Iraqis mete out justice to the leading figures of a government accused of genocide against its own people does not preclude an international role in the process, Nooraldin said.

"The law which provides for the establishment of the court stipulates that there can be recourse to international experts, and even for there to be international judges on the court that conducts a trial," he said.

Saddam Hussein's family wants the former leader to be tried by an international court instead of a special tribunal set up by the US-installed Iraqi Governing Council, one of his daughters said yesterday.

She said the family would appoint an attorney to try to contact Hussein, whose whereabouts have not been released. US authorities say they are interrogating him at a secure location.

Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson said yesterday the Swedish Government would be ready to let former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein serve a prison sentence in Sweden if asked to do so.

In Iraq, stunned supporters of Saddam Hussein rioted in a number of cities as indications rose it would be some time before the captured former dictator faces trial for his actions over the past three decades.

US President George W. Bush said when asked if he had a personal message for Saddam: "Good riddance. The world is a better place without you...."

But Bush also warned on Monday that "the terrorists in Iraq remain dangerous," shortly after suicide car bombings at Baghdad-area police stations killed the two attackers and seven other people and wounded 30.

US troops killed 11 Iraqi guerrillas who tried to ambush their forces on Monday in the town of Samarra, 100 kilometers north of Baghdad, the US military said.

In the restive town of Falluja, 50 kilometers west of Baghdad, at least one Iraqi gunman was killed and a US soldier was wounded in an exchange of fire during riots on Monday night.

The protest in Falluja was one of several demonstrations by supporters of Saddam in the mainly Sunni Muslim areas of Baghdad and towns to the west and north.

In Vatican, Cardinal Renato Martino, head of the Vatican's Justice and Peace department, said yesterday he felt pity and compassion for Saddam Hussein and criticized the US military for showing video footage of him being treated "like a cow."

(China Daily December 17, 2003)