The trial of Saddam Hussein should start as scheduled in 10 days but could be adjourned after just a day or two of procedural argument, a source close to the Iraqi Special Tribunal said on Sunday. The court confirmed last week that the five judges of Trial Chamber No. 1 would open proceedings on October 19 against Saddam and seven others for crimes against humanity in the killing of over 140 Shi’ite Muslim villagers at Dujail in 1982.

But global television viewers should not expect to sit down to daily courtroom drama from that day on, even if, as widely expected, the judges do eventually agree to live broadcasts. Those could be many weeks away yet. “I would call it the beginning of an ongoing process,” the source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told reporters. The first day, or perhaps a couple of days, would largely be taken up with legal argument between attorneys and the judges, including probably arguments from Saddam’s defence counsel, aired already in public, that they need more time to prepare.

The defendants would be identified and charges probably read out, though the accused would not plead or make statements – at a partly televised arraignment hearing last year, Saddam harangued the magistrate and said he was still president. “How much time between that first day; whether or not they have business for one or two days and then adjourn for some period of time; how long the adjournment would be; (all that) would be up to the trial judge,” the source said. The impression has been growing from sources around the Tribunal that the full-blown hearings of witnesses and accused may be weeks away yet.