The capture of this man was crucial to the rise of a free Iraq. And now the former dictator of Iraq will face the justice he denied to millions. He was found near a farmhouse outside the city of Tikrit, in a swift raid conducted without casualties. Baghdad time, United States military forces captured Saddam Hussein alive. Yesterday, December the 13th, at around 8:30 p.m. insult to all Arabs and an insult to Muslims".You are in: Bureaus/Offices Reporting Directly to the Secretary > Office of War Crimes Issues > Releases > Remarks, Briefings, Testimony > 2003 Capture of Saddam Hussein President Bush There was also condemnation of his treatment in some parts of the Arab world.Ībdel Azziz Rantissi, a leader of the Palestinian militant organisation Hamas, accused the US of an "ugly and despicable. World leaders have welcomed the capture, including some who opposed the war to oust Saddam Hussein such as President Jacques Chirac of France who said it would strongly contribute to democracy and stability in Iraq. "But we expect Saddam Hussein - as any other presumed, real or accepted PoW - will at some stage be visited by the ICRC." There was no fixed time frame for the visit, a spokesman told AP. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has said it expects to have access to the captured former president.
COLONEL SADDAM HUSSEIN CAPTURE TRIAL
However, some human rights groups say an international tribunal - without the power to award the death penalty - would be preferable to a trial in Iraq. The US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) has called for him to be tried inside Iraq by Iraqi judges "under the supervision of international experts".Īziz al-Hakim, said Monday that Saddam Hussein could face the death penalty if convicted in an Iraqi court.Ī special tribunal was set up in Iraq last week to try leading members of the former government.Ĭharles Heathley, spokesman for the US-led administration in Iraq, said on Monday he expected the new tribunal would charge Saddam Hussein "in due course" and ask the coalition to hand him over. Reports that he has been moved to a US facility in Qatar have been denied by the Iraqi authorities.Ĭolonel James Hickey, who led the raid on Saddam Hussein's hideout on Saturday, has revealed that soldiers were seconds away from throwing a hand grenade into the pit where he was hiding before he surrendered.
The whereabouts of the former president is unclear. "The US dreamed them up itself to have a reason to go to war with us," the magazine quoted the former president as saying.
Time magazine, quoting a US intelligence official, reports that he denied during initial questioning that his country possessed weapons of mass destruction. The spokesman added that he expected Saddam Hussein to produce "some significant intelligence over the next couple of days". General Hertling told AP news agency that the arrests had been prompted by the transcript of Saddam Hussein's initial interrogation as well as a briefcase of documents found in his hideout. These included a high-ranking former figure from the Saddam government who in turn "gave up a few others," he said. The US military has said it has identified a militant cell in Baghdad and made a number of arrests of anti-coalition figures in the city on the basis of information "gleaned" from Saddam Hussein's capture.Ī couple of key individuals had been seized in Baghdad since Saturday, said spokesman Brigadier General Mark Hertling. Iraq's new US-backed leaders have been demanding a trial under an Iraqi tribunal formed last week. He warned that any trial would have to be "acceptable and appropriate and would ensure that he would be brought to justice". Mr Rumsfeld said Saddam Hussein's fate would be decided at a senior level.
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