(Reuters)
DUBAI -- Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein will be given to the new Iraqi government for trial within two weeks, Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said on Monday.
"Saddam and the others will be handed over to the Iraqis, to the government," he said in comments to Arab satellite channel Al Jazeera. The trials would start "as soon as possible."
"All the current detainees, without exception, will be handed over to the Iraqi authority. The handover will take place within the next two weeks," he said.
U.S. troops captured Saddam in December near his home town of Tikrit and he has been in U.S. hands ever since, held as a prisoner of war at an unknown location.
The United States has agreed to give him -- and other indicted officials in its custody -- to the Iraqis for trial once a sovereign government sets up a special tribunal capable of conducting a fair trial after June 30.
The tribunal plans to charge some of Saddam's associates by the end of this year, the top court administrator Salem Chalabi said last week.
It hopes former Saddam aides captured by U.S. occupation troops will testify against him during their prosecution, which could take many months.
Officials say the aides would be tried before Saddam appears in the dock in a Baghdad complex that once stored gifts for him. The aides' trials could help the tribunal prove a chain of command linking Saddam to crimes against humanity.
DUBAI -- Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein will be given to the new Iraqi government for trial within two weeks, Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said on Monday.
"Saddam and the others will be handed over to the Iraqis, to the government," he said in comments to Arab satellite channel Al Jazeera. The trials would start "as soon as possible."
"All the current detainees, without exception, will be handed over to the Iraqi authority. The handover will take place within the next two weeks," he said.
U.S. troops captured Saddam in December near his home town of Tikrit and he has been in U.S. hands ever since, held as a prisoner of war at an unknown location.
The United States has agreed to give him -- and other indicted officials in its custody -- to the Iraqis for trial once a sovereign government sets up a special tribunal capable of conducting a fair trial after June 30.
The tribunal plans to charge some of Saddam's associates by the end of this year, the top court administrator Salem Chalabi said last week.
It hopes former Saddam aides captured by U.S. occupation troops will testify against him during their prosecution, which could take many months.
Officials say the aides would be tried before Saddam appears in the dock in a Baghdad complex that once stored gifts for him. The aides' trials could help the tribunal prove a chain of command linking Saddam to crimes against humanity.
