IRAQ: PRESS CONFERENCE BY GOVERNING COUNCIL MEMBER MOWAFAQ AL-RUBAIE IN BAGHDAD ON THE FUTURE FOR SADDAM HUSSEIN AFTER HIS CAPTURE.
Record ID:
646748
IRAQ: PRESS CONFERENCE BY GOVERNING COUNCIL MEMBER MOWAFAQ AL-RUBAIE IN BAGHDAD ON THE FUTURE FOR SADDAM HUSSEIN AFTER HIS CAPTURE.
- Title: IRAQ: PRESS CONFERENCE BY GOVERNING COUNCIL MEMBER MOWAFAQ AL-RUBAIE IN BAGHDAD ON THE FUTURE FOR SADDAM HUSSEIN AFTER HIS CAPTURE.
- Date: 17th December 2003
- Summary: (U4) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (DECEMBER 17,2003) (REUTERS) 1. WS/INTERIOR: GOVERNING COUNCIL MEMBERS ADNAN AL-PACHACHI AND MUWAFAQ AL-RUBAIE ARRIVING AT CONFERENCE HALL. 0.05 2. SCU: JOURNALISTS ATTENDING CONFERENCE TAKING NOTES. 0.08 3. SCU: (SOUNDBITE)(Arabic) MOWAFFAQ AL-RUBAIE, SAYING "I did not asked Saddam Hussein directly this question, but from the situation he was in and his collapsed psychological status and the cell, the tomb he was living in for months, I do not think that Saddam Hussein was running the terrorist operations from that hole." 0.35 4. SCU: JOURNALISTS ATTENDING PRESS CONFERENCE 0.38 5. SCU: (SOUNDBITE)(Arabic) RUBAIE, SAYING "Politically and practically Saddam is still in Iraq. Saddam is still in Baghdad and maybe he will stay in Iraq to be tried in Iraq in public by an Iraqi court." 0.52 6. WS: JOURNALISTS AT NEWS CONFERENCE RAISING THEIR HANDS TO ASK QUESTIONS. 0.57 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 1st January 2004 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BAGHDAD, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVAS7DPM3UJOB08ML4FBN2YHPR5
- Story Text: The Governing Council says that Saddam continued to
be held in the Baghdad area and is unlikely to be the
mastermind of recent terrorist attacks.
At a news conference in Baghdad, Iraq's U.S.-backed
Governing Council said it did not believe former dictator,
Saddam Hussein, would have been responsible for the
terrorist attacks that have plagued the country since the
the end of his leadership.
Governing Council member, Mowafaq al-Rubaie, said it
was unlikely Saddam was the mastermind behind attacks that
hit Baghdad and other Iraqi cities.
"I did not asked Saddam Hussein directly this question,
but from the situation he was in and his collapsed
psychological status and the cell, the tomb he was living
in for months, I do not think that Saddam Hussein was
running the terrorist operations from that hole," he said.
The council also denied on Wednesday (December 17) that
Saddam Hussein had been taken out of Iraq, saying a report
that the former dictator had been moved to Qatar was denied
by the US Ambassador Paul Bremer and the coalition
authority.
"Politically and practically Saddam is still in Iraq.
Saddam is still in Baghdad and maybe he will stay in Iraq
to be tried in Iraq in public by an Iraqi court," al-Rubaie
said.
U.S. officials have said in public only that Saddam,
captured by U.S. forces near Tikrit on Saturday (December
13), was at an "undisclosed location".
A special tribunal was set up in Iraq last week, to try
leading members of the former government.
But Dara Nooraldin, an Iraqi judge and member of the
Governing Council who helped draft the court's charter,
said the court would not be ready to try anyone for months,
and that a decision on executing Saddam would be in the
hands of a transitional government set to be formed next
year.
Rights groups warn a tribunal set up under U.S.
occupation could be little more than part of a victors'
peace in Iraq, though U.S. President George W. Bush has
said he would work with Iraqis to ensure any trial meets
international standards.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he would not
back the death penalty for the former Iraqi leader ousted
in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, and Britain, the closest
U.S. war ally - ruled out any role in a trial leading to
Saddam's execution
Saddam Hussein's daughter Raghad said on Tuesday
(December 16) she and her sisters wanted an international
trial for their father.
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