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CNN Live Saturday
What Road Will Saddam Hussein's Trial Take?
Aired December 20, 2003 - 12:19 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HOLLY FIRFER, CNN ANCHOR: It's been a week since the capture of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Now that he's in coalition custody, the international community wants to know how Saddam Hussein will be tried for his alleged atrocities, and will he be designated a prisoner of war? Ruth Wedgwood is an international law professor with John Hopkins University and she joins us live from Washington.
Welcome, professor.
PROF. RUTH WEDGWOOD, JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: Thank you, Holly.
FIRFER: Let me ask you, is he going to be considered a prisoner of war? What is his status?
WEDGWOOD: Well, he could be considered any of a number of things, actually. In occupied territory, for example, under the fourth Geneva Convention, anybody who is definitely suspected of activities hostile to the occupation or the occupying authorities can be held as a internee. So, Saddam could easily be under that category. He might be a prisoner of war or treated as if he were a prisoner of war, just without conceding the status, he could be an unlawful combatant. It's also customary to intern the senior civilian leaders of a hostile government.
FIRFER: Why then would the administration be holding off on terming what he actually is?
WEDGWOOD: Well, if you say that you agree, as of right, he is a prisoner of war in the legal sense, under third Geneva Convention it has some consequence for how he's held. When we tried Noriega, a long time ago, when he was suspected of and convicted of drug dealing in -- through Panama with the Medellin cartel, we treated him as if he were a prisoner of war without ever conceding that he was really deserving of that status, because he had been wanted on a criminal warrant.
FIRFER: Does he have any rights at this point?
WEDGWOOD: Well, he always has the right to be treated humanely under international law. But for, I think, for the moment he will probably be the subject of intelligence inquiry and will not be turned over to the coalition, to the governing council until that intelligence process is finished. There's lots of things he could tell about, where the WMD was or went to, links to terrorist groups, where the money is, what the commanding control structure of the Ba'athist resistance is. FIRFER: Professor Wedgwood, let's talk a little bit about a trial. There seems to be a question, will it be an international court, an Iraqi court. What do you think, what are some indications now that it might be one way or the other?
WEDGWOOD: Well, by pure serendipity, about 72 hours before Saddam was found in his hidey-hole, the governing council had finished work on a statute for a so-called mixed tribunal, that that would be an Iraqi-led process on which there would be a great many Iraqi judges, as investigating judges, and appellate, and trial judges, but it also allows for the appointment of international judges, and demands -- requires that there be international observers and assistance to help, both bring to bear the international case law on war crimes, and also to serve as kind of observers and ombudsmen to make sure that due process standards are maintained.
FIRFER: OK, Professor Ruth Wedgwood, we appreciate your time today. Thank you.
WEDGWOOD: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 20, 2003 - 12:19 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HOLLY FIRFER, CNN ANCHOR: It's been a week since the capture of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Now that he's in coalition custody, the international community wants to know how Saddam Hussein will be tried for his alleged atrocities, and will he be designated a prisoner of war? Ruth Wedgwood is an international law professor with John Hopkins University and she joins us live from Washington.
Welcome, professor.
PROF. RUTH WEDGWOOD, JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: Thank you, Holly.
FIRFER: Let me ask you, is he going to be considered a prisoner of war? What is his status?
WEDGWOOD: Well, he could be considered any of a number of things, actually. In occupied territory, for example, under the fourth Geneva Convention, anybody who is definitely suspected of activities hostile to the occupation or the occupying authorities can be held as a internee. So, Saddam could easily be under that category. He might be a prisoner of war or treated as if he were a prisoner of war, just without conceding the status, he could be an unlawful combatant. It's also customary to intern the senior civilian leaders of a hostile government.
FIRFER: Why then would the administration be holding off on terming what he actually is?
WEDGWOOD: Well, if you say that you agree, as of right, he is a prisoner of war in the legal sense, under third Geneva Convention it has some consequence for how he's held. When we tried Noriega, a long time ago, when he was suspected of and convicted of drug dealing in -- through Panama with the Medellin cartel, we treated him as if he were a prisoner of war without ever conceding that he was really deserving of that status, because he had been wanted on a criminal warrant.
FIRFER: Does he have any rights at this point?
WEDGWOOD: Well, he always has the right to be treated humanely under international law. But for, I think, for the moment he will probably be the subject of intelligence inquiry and will not be turned over to the coalition, to the governing council until that intelligence process is finished. There's lots of things he could tell about, where the WMD was or went to, links to terrorist groups, where the money is, what the commanding control structure of the Ba'athist resistance is. FIRFER: Professor Wedgwood, let's talk a little bit about a trial. There seems to be a question, will it be an international court, an Iraqi court. What do you think, what are some indications now that it might be one way or the other?
WEDGWOOD: Well, by pure serendipity, about 72 hours before Saddam was found in his hidey-hole, the governing council had finished work on a statute for a so-called mixed tribunal, that that would be an Iraqi-led process on which there would be a great many Iraqi judges, as investigating judges, and appellate, and trial judges, but it also allows for the appointment of international judges, and demands -- requires that there be international observers and assistance to help, both bring to bear the international case law on war crimes, and also to serve as kind of observers and ombudsmen to make sure that due process standards are maintained.
FIRFER: OK, Professor Ruth Wedgwood, we appreciate your time today. Thank you.
WEDGWOOD: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
