Re: Iraqi Council Opposes Hussein POW Status

Date: January 12, 2004

"Iraq Governing Council opposes Saddam Husein POW status
12.01.2004, 15.54


CAIRO, January 12 (Itar-Tass) - The Provisional Governing Council of Iraq opposes the granting of the status of a prisoner of war (POW) to Saddam Hussein by the United States.

"The Governing Council does not recognize the POW status of Saddam Hussein. Neither the Pentagon, nor any country, nor any other structure have the right to impose its decision on us," Muhammad Bahr al-Ulyum, member of the Governing Council, has said in an interview, published by Al-Hayat newspaper of Saudi Arabia on Monday. According to Muhammad al-Ulyum, the present Iraqi leaders will defend the right of the Iraqi people to bring the former dictator to trial on their own.

"Saddam Hussein was arrested several months after the end of the war. This is why he should be treated as an ordinary Iraqi citizen with all the rights and obligations, which are due to him. He should be tried in accordance with Iraqi laws,"al-Ulyum said.

A representative of the Pentagon announced on Friday that the former Iraqi dictator had been granted the POW status, because he had been commander-in-chief of the Iraqi armed forces. This is why it is the U.S. military tribunal, which is expected to handle the case of Saddam Hussein, although a court for the trial of the ex-leader of Iraq and of top-ranking representatives of his regime had been actually formed in Iraq already.

© ITAR-TASS"