Saddam will be tried in Iraq, says Spain

15 December 2003

MADRID.- Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein will be tried in Iraq not in the United States, the Spanish Foreign Minister said Monday.

Ana Palacio said in an interview with the television channel TVE that Saddam would get justice in a way which would preserve his human rights.

The minister explained that members of Iraq’s provisional government were visiting Madrid over the weekend when they heard the news of the former dictator’s capture.

Palacio said the Iraqis greeted the news with “emotion and tears”.

The minister said now “the Iraqis could breath freedom deeply because they were not afraid of the return” of Saddam.

Palacio added that Saddam would not be tried in the United States but in a tribunal which had recently been created in Iraq to deal with the crimes committed by his regime.

She said it was important that the process had all the proper legal guarantees for a fair trial.

At the future trial, said Palacio, it was important to demonstrate “the moral capacity of humanity” in front of an “immoral” person like the former dictator.

She said Spain would go on defending the role of the United Nations in this situation, with the cooperation of Iraq’s neighbours to put into place a rapid transfer to the sovereignty of the people of Iraq.

[Copyright EFE with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news