‘Saddam trial after new govt is set up’

Witnesses said hundreds of pro-Saddam protesters overran the office of the US-appointed Mayor in Falluja, and set the office of a small political party ablaze. US military sources said gunmen fired at US forces wounding one soldier. Soldiers returned fire, killing one gunman. Witnesses said three Iraqis died in the shootout.

Meanwhile, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he would not back the death penalty for Saddam. Britain ruled out any role in a trial leading to Saddam’s execution.

Dara Nooraldin, an Iraqi judge and member of Iraq’s Governing Council who helped draft the court’s charter, said the court would not be ready to try anyone for months, and that any decision to execute Saddam would be in the hands of a transitional government to be formed next year.

‘‘The trials will not be conducted for some months, at the time when the judges and the court’s administrative employees are appointed,’’ he said. ‘‘The transitional government may have been formed by then, and the question will be left to that government to decide whether the death penalty is to be abolished or to stay.’’

Nooraldin, a Baghdad judge imprisoned under Saddam’s rule, bristled at the suggestion that Saddam and other defendants in the tribunal could not get fair trials in Iraq.

‘‘I am astounded that anyone could judge this court as compromised before the trials begin and the court’s procedures are seen,’’ he said. ‘‘These crimes were committed in Iraq. The court and the judges must be Iraqi.’’ -(Reuters)