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The Trial of Saddam Hussein: What Kind of Court Should Prosecute Saddam Hussein and Others for Human Rights Abuses

2003; Fordham University School of Law; Volume: 27; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

0747-9395

Justice Richard Goldstone,

Economic Sanctions and International Relations

The capture of Saddam Hussein alive is of course a cause for rejoicing. His crimes were massive. He left hundreds of thousands of victims in Iraq; the Shiites who dared to oppose him, the Kurds against whom he committed a most terrible genocide. The question now and the subject of this talk is what to do in order to bring him justice. Having captured him and some of his chief lieutenants, how should they be brought to justice? Broadly speaking, there are four options. The first is a wholly domestic trial in Baghdad before Iraqi judges. The second option would be a hybrid international/domestic court of the form that is now operating in Sierra Leone. The third option is a treaty-based multinational court. The fourth and final option would be an ad hoc tribunal established by the Security Council under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, on the lines of the International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. Those then are the four options. EXCLUSIVE PRESENTATION ON SADDAM HUSSEIN THE TRIAL OF SADDAM HUSSEIN: WHAT KIND OF COURT SHOULD PROSECUTE SADDAM HUSSEIN AND OTHERS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES?* Justice Richard Goldstone** Good evening and thank you very much for that very warm introduction on a very cold evening. I am also surprised at how many of you braved the weather, or will still be braving the weather, to be here this evening. The capture of Saddam Hussein alive is of course a cause for rejoicing. His crimes were massive. He left hundreds of thousands of victims in Iraq; the Shiites who dared to oppose him, the Kurds against whom he committed a most terrible genocide. The question now and the subject of this talk is what to do in order to bring him justice. Having captured him and some of his chief lieutenants, how should they be brought to justice? Broadly speaking, there are four options. The first is a wholly domestic trial in Baghdad before Iraqi judges. Such a trial could also conceivably be held outside Iraq in consequence of a treaty or by the exercise of universal jurisdiction. That may, in the case of countries in the Middle East, require special domestic legislation, but from a jurisprudential point of view it is a * This Article was originally given as a lecture entitled Justice in Iraq: the Trial of Saddam Hussein at the Fordham University School of Law on Thursday,January 15, 2004 for the Crowley Program in International Human Rights at Fordham Law School. ** Justice Richard Goldstone was appointed Judge of the Transvaal Supreme Court in 1980, where he served until his appointment to the Appellate Division of the South African Supreme Court in 1989. From 1991-1994, he chaired the Commission of Inquiry regarding Public Violence and Intimidation (the Goldstone Commission) to investigate apartheid-era violence. He was appointed to the Constitutional Court of South Africa in 1994. From 1994-1996, he served as Chief Prosecutor of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. In December 2001, he was appointed by the International Bar Association to chair the International Task Force on Terrorism. He will hold the William Hughes Mulligan Chair in International Legal Studies at Fordham Law School in the fall 2004 semester.