Saddam Hussein and 11 of his top lieutenants appeared before an Iraqi judge yesterday as Iraq took legal custody of them from the US military.

A US official said the United States formally transferred Saddam and the others to the charge of Iraq’s new government but Saddam would remain in the physical custody of US forces.

An official in interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi’s office had said earlier that Saddam and his aides would be told at the initial court appearance that they would be charged today.

Iraq’s president was quoted as saying the country would reintroduce the death penalty and the national security adviser said the judges trying Saddam could order his execution.

“Tomorrow Saddam and 11 others will be officially charged”, said the official. “The focus at this point will be on Saddam and tomorrow’s proceedings will mark the start of his trial.”

Saddam will be charged with crimes against humanity for a 1988 gas massacre of Kurds, the 1990 invasion of Kuwait and the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, said Salem Chalabi, a lawyer leading the work of a tribunal that will try the former dictator.

French lawyer Emmanuel Ludot, one of a 20-strong team appointed by Saddam’s wife to represent him, said the former president would refuse to acknowledge any court or any judge.

“It will be a court of vengeance, a settling of scores”, Ludot told France Info radio, saying any judge sitting in the court would be under pressure to find Saddam guilty. Ludot said he expected Saddam to say last year’s US-led war was illegal.

Former Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz and Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as “Chemical Ali” for his role in using chemical weapons, are among those to be turned over to Iraqi legal custody with Saddam, an Interior Ministry official said.

<B>Crimes against humanity </B>

Those former officials and others among the 55 most wanted Iraqis on a US list are seen as witnesses who could help prove a chain of command linking Saddam to crimes against humanity.

Among others who were expected to be handed over were Barzan Ibrahim Hasan al-Tikriti, Saddam’s half-brother and adviser; Abid Hamid Mahmud al-Tikriti, his secretary; Sabawi Ibrahim, Saddam’s maternal half-brother; Watban Ibrahim Hasan al-Tikriti, Saddam’s half-brother and adviser; and Aziz Salih Numan, Baath Party regional commander and head of the party militia.

Saddam, accused by Iraqis of ordering the killing and torture of thousands of people during 35 years of Baathist rule, has been held as a prisoner of war since US forces found him hiding in a hole near his hometown of Tikrit in December.

Government offices were shut on Wednesday for a new national holiday declared to mark the transfer of sovereignty.

Allawi’s new interim government wants to show ordinary Iraqis that the 14-month occupation is really over, at least in political if not military terms, while also proving it can curb violence still blighting the country.

Insurgents fired six to 10 mortar rounds that landed north of Baghdad international airport on Wednesday, wounding six soldiers of the US-led force, a US military spokesman said.

A bomb exploded in the southern town of Samawa, where Japanese and Dutch troops are deployed, but no one was badly hurt, witnesses said. The blast was not near the Japanese camp.

The Iraqi government has decided to reinstate the death penalty and offer an amnesty to Iraqis who do not have blood on their hands, President Ghazi al-Yawar was quoted as saying.

Asharq al-Awsat newspaper said Yawar, speaking just after Monday’s handover of sovereignty to the interim government, also said Iraq will reinstate a 1960s “national security law”. The decisions were taken directly after Monday’s ceremony and will be formally issued in the “near future”, he said.

Yawar said the death penalty would be reinstated “but with rules which comply with the norms in most countries of the world”. It would apply to a limited number of crimes including rape, kidnapping, murder and terrorism.

The death penalty was suspended by the US former administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer.

Yawar said the national security law due to be reinstated was “less severe than emergency laws, but (it) includes resolute measures against terrorist acts and breaches of the law”.

Iraq’s National Security Adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie said Saddam would get a fair trial and could face the death penalty.

“We promise the Iraqi people and the world that Saddam will receive a fair hearing”, he told BBC radio. “The death penalty is going to be available to the court. We are now an independent sovereign country again and we need to reimpose the penalty.”

Saddam would not be allowed to call witnesses such as British Prime Minister Tony Blair and former US President George Bush, Rubaie said, recalling demands made at the UN court trying former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.

“We are not going to allow this to be a political game. We are going to restrict ourselves to the crimes. We are not going to allow him to turn the trial into a Milosevic-type showdown.”

Photo leg.

A portrait of toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein lies behind a bullet hole in the window of a Baghdad watch repair shop.

<B>CHRONOLOGY

Life of Saddam Hussein</B>

• Iraq’s government took over legal custody of Saddam yesterday. Here are key dates in the life of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

– April 28, 1937 – Born in al-Awja village outside Tikrit, 150 km (90 miles) north of Baghdad.

– Oct 1956 – Joins an uprising against the pro-British royalist rulers and then becomes a militant in the pan-Arab, secular Baath Party.

– Oct 1959 – A year after the overthrow of the monarchy, takes part in an attempt to kill Prime Minister Abdel-Karim Kassem. Flees abroad.

– Feb 1963 – Returns to Baghdad when the Baath Party seizes power in a military coup, but nine months later Baathists are toppled. Caught and jailed. Elected deputy secretary-general of the party while in prison.

– July 1968 – Saddam helps plot the coup that puts the Baath Party back in power, deposing President Abdul-Rahman Aref.

– March 1975 – As vice-president of the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC), Saddam signs a border agreement with the Shah of Iran, who ends support for an Iraqi Kurdish revolt, causing its collapse.

– July 16, 1979 – Takes power after President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr steps aside as chairman of the RCC.

– Sept 22, 1980 – Following border skirmishes, Saddam launches war on Iran that lasts eight years.

– March 16, 1988 – Iraqi forces launch chemical attack on Iraqi Kurdish town of Halabja, killing about 5 000 people.

– Aug 20, 1988 – A ceasefire is officially implemented in the Iran-Iraq war. The campaign against Kurds continues.

– Aug 2, 1990 – Launches invasion of Kuwait, prompting UN Security Council to impose sanctions on Iraq.

– Jan 17, 1991 – US-led forces start Gulf War with air attacks on Iraq and occupied Kuwait. Hostilities end on Feb 28 with eviction of Iraqi forces from Kuwait.

– Oct 15, 1995 – Saddam wins a presidential referendum and is elected unopposed with more than 99 percent of the vote.

– Oct 15, 2002 – Official results show Saddam wins 100 percent of votes in a referendum for a new term in office.

– Dec 7, 2002 – Saddam apologises for invasion of Kuwait but blames the emirates’ leadership. Kuwait rejects the apology.

– Feb 2, 2003 – In his first interview in more than a decade, Saddam denies Baghdad has banned weapons or any links to al Qaeda.

– March 15 – Saddam puts Iraq on a war footing, dividing the country into four military districts and putting his younger son Qusay in command of the vital Baghdad-Tikrit area.

– March 20 – US launches war against Iraq with strikes on Baghdad targeting “very senior” leadership. Saddam later appears on TV urging Iraqis to defend their country.

– April 9 – US forces sweep into the heart of Baghdad to an ecstatic welcome as Saddam Hussein’s 24-year rule crumbles.

– July 22 – US military confirms that Saddam’s two sons, Uday and Qusay, were killed in gun battle in Mosul.

– Dec 14 – US officials announce capture of Saddam.

– April 27, 2004 – The International Committee of the Red Cross officials visit Saddam for the second time. The first Red Cross visit by a doctor and interpreter was on Feb 21.

– June 30 – Saddam is handed over to Iraqi justice but the US military still guards him. He will be charged with crimes against humanity.