“…could mean a wasted opportunity to put Saddam and his henchmen on trial in a manner that has no credibility in the eyes of the world,” Dicker said.

NEW YORK, December 17 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – A top human rights group said the Iraqi Special Tribunal set to try ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and members of his ousted regime is flawed and lacks “fair-trial protections”.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch said plans of the interim Iraqi government of Iyad Allawi to push ahead with trials of the former Iraqi officials risks to be unfair, discredited and having “serious human rights shortcomings”, Reuters Friday, December 17.

“Trying former Iraqi officials under the current rules could mean a wasted opportunity to put Saddam and his henchmen on trial in a manner that has no credibility in the eyes of the world,” Richard Dicker, director of the International Justice Program at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.

Allawi said earlier this week a trial would be held for the ousted Iraqi president and his former aides would be tried sooner than originally planned. Ali Hassan Al-Majid, known as “Chemical Ali” would be the first to appear on trial for his alleged role in the use of chemical weapons against Kurdish civilians in 1988.

Lacks Guarantees

The rights watchdog said provisions set for the trial, including preliminary hearings, were not sufficient, judges have not been properly trained and defendants have not had full access to lawyers.

It further added that the Tribunal's statutes lack explicit guarantees against the use of confessions extracted under torture or requirements that guilt be proven beyond reasonable doubt.

“The tribunal's statute fails to require that judges and prosecutors have relevant experience trying cases of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity - experience readily acknowledged to be lacking among Iraqi judges.”

It added that “given the complexity of prosecuting these types of cases and the current state of the Iraqi justice system, this raises concerns that the tribunal will lack necessary expertise.”

In recent months, groups of Iraqi prosecutors and judges have attended training courses on international law in the British capital London, but have admitted themselves that they are unfamiliar with the intricacies of prosecuting war crimes trials.

The Iraqi Special Tribunal was set last December the Coalition Provisional Authority under former US Civil Administrator in Iraq Paul Bremer.

Saddam and 11 senior aides appeared in court in July for the first time since their capture to hear preliminary charges of crimes against humanity.

Access to Lawyers

Saddam Hussein stands trial for crimes against humanity.

The human rights group added it had urged for introducing amendments to the tribunal's statutes, particularly when it comes to defendants' access to lawyers and other basic rights.

“The Iraqi Special Tribunal has serious human rights shortcomings,” Dicker said, adding that the Iraqi government is required to make changes to the trying process  and make sure that trials will be fair.

On Thursday, December 16, the former Iraqi president has had his first meeting with a member of his defense team since he was captured just over a year ago.

Lawyer Ziad Al-Khasawneh said Saddam Hussein looked much better than he did during a preliminary court appearance several months ago.

“He was in good health and his morale was high and very strong,” he told the Associated Press.

Defense lawyers said they have had no chance to meet their clients, let alone prepare a defense, stressing that putting the accused on trial now would be a miscarriage of justice.