10 January 2003
Iraqis Seek Primary Role in Prosecuting Crimes Against Humanity
(Iraqi jurist says international community should play supportive role) (800) By Vicki Silverman Washington File Staff Writer Washington -- An Iraqi-American attorney participating in State Department-sponsored discussions on transitional justice in Iraq following the fall of Saddam Hussein says those who committed genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity should be prosecuted in Iraq before Iraqi judges. Sermid Al-Sarraf, a member of the Iraqi Jurist Association and a participant in the State Department's Future of Iraq Project working group on transitional justice, spoke with the Washington File January 3 about what free Iraqis are thinking on the topic of bringing Saddam Hussein and his regime to justice. Al-Sarraf and other Iraqi jurists from around the world are meeting in Washington January 9-10 to continue the working group's discussion of how to revive the rule of law in Iraq. "There definitely needs to be the prosecution of all of the major crimes," Al-Sarraf said. He said the Iraqi Jurist Association, one of the largest consortiums of Iraqi lawyers, judges and law professors outside Iraq, favors an Iraqi-based tribunal over an international tribunal. "The Iraqi Jurist Association would like to see Saddam and his regime prosecuted in Iraq, on Iraqi soil, by Iraqi judges," Al-Sarraf said. "Iraq has a long history of an advanced legal system in the region. There is no dearth of personalities and legal minds either inside or outside Iraq who are up to the challenge of doing this work," Al-Sarraf said. He said the primary victims of Saddam were his own people, unlike the case of the former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosovic whose primary victims were not members of Milosevic's Serb ethnic group. Milosevic is being tried at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. "If you were to ask Iraqis if they wanted to put Saddam and his regime on trial, and they knew there were no repercussions for the truth of what they said, they would all agree that they must be tried," he said. Al-Sarraf noted that the regime's crimes are well known and he commended the international human rights organization Human Rights Watch for its work in investigating and documenting the abuses. Based on its examination of eighteen tons of Iraqi government documents seized in 1991, Human Rights Watch has identified over 115 Iraqi officials who it says should face prosecution. Al-Sarraf said Human Rights Watch and other international representatives would have an important supportive role to play in advising the tribunal of available evidence, assisting prosecutors to collect evidence and in maintaining the chain of custody of the evidence. "To have international legitimacy, the court system will want to have international observers at a minimum, or even some international participants within the framework of an Iraqi-based tribunal," Al-Sarraf said. The transitional justice working group is also studying ways to implement some type of truth commission for those who joined Hussein's Ba'ath party but did not commit crimes, or committed lower-level misdemeanors. During the working group's meeting in October 2002, they had the opportunity to learn about the process from an organizer of South Africa's Truth Commission and other experts in post-conflict justice. "While I say that Iraqi jurists are adamant that they lead the effort in prosecutions, they are also not shy to engage and interact with international experts," Al-Sarraf said. He believes the truth process may go on for years but ultimately will help rebuild civic trust in the country. In discussions on institutional reform, Al-Sarraf said the working group is addressing not only the development of an independent judiciary, but also reforms in the domestic security services and the military. "These institutions are all law-based. Each derives from laws passed in the 1970's, which have since been modified by Saddam to accommodate his preservation. For example, we could identify several security services that were created just for the Ba'ath Party control. Our recommendation is to totally disband them and transfer their assets or weapons to the standing army. Their personnel would be prosecuted or evaluated just like any other Ba'ath party member," he explained. "Those institutions that pre-date Saddam, like the police force and border patrol, but whose purpose has been changed from protecting the people to protecting the regime, we recommend they be re-oriented," Al-Sarraf said. Restoring Iraqi's legal foundation will take time but, he believes, the Iraqi people will work with dedication to recover their dignity and well-being. More information on the Future of Iraq Project's working group on Transitional Justice is available at http://usinfo.state.gov/regional/nea/iraq/future.htm. The Human Rights Watch policy paper "Justice for Iraq" may be obtained at http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/mena/iraq1217bg.htm. (The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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