First charges against Saddam Hussein

Iraq’s special tribunal has laid the first charges against the former president Saddam Hussein. Saddam is charged with three others in connection with the killing of about 140 Shi’ite men in Dujail, north of Baghdad, in 1982.

It followed a failed assassination attempt as Saddam’s convoy passed through the village. The chief investigating judge says initial proceedings could start within days,although there must be at least 45 days between charges and a trial beginning. The other defendants are Barzan al-Tikriti, Saddam’s half-brother and former spy chief; Taha Yasin Ramadan, a former deputy premier; and Awad Hamad al-Bander, chief judge of Saddam’s Revolutionary Court.

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