Shiite to Preside Over 2nd Saddam Trial [View All]

[ECH1969]

54-year-old Shiite jurist will preside as chief judge in the trial of Saddam Hussein and six others for their role in the 1980s campaign that killed an estimated 100,000 Kurds, a court official said Sunday.

Judge Abdullah al-Amiri will head the five-member panel that will convene Aug. 21, the official said on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media. Munqith Takleef al-Firuan will serve as the chief prosecutor, he said.

A Kurdish judge, Raouf Abdel-Rahman, headed the panel for Saddam's trial in the killing of Shiites in Dujail. That trial adjourned last month until Oct. 16, when the verdicts are expected for Saddam and seven other defendants.

Saddam and the six others face genocide charges over the campaign, which left thousands of Kurdish villages razed and their inhabitants either killed or displaced.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6013795,00.html