OTB gets results!
AP – Red Cross Says U.S. Shouldn’t Free Hussein
Saddam Hussein can be held for trial even though most Iraqi prisoners of war are entitled to immediate release at the end of the U.S. occupation of Iraq, the Red Cross said yesterday.
“Any prisoner of war suspected of having committed any type of crime can be charged and tried,” said Antonella Notari, chief spokeswoman of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Notari said she wanted to make clear the neutral ICRC had no desire to see the release of any POWs, including Hussein, who were suspected of criminal acts.
“Nobody in the ICRC is calling for the release of Saddam Hussein. Absolutely not,” Notari told the Associated Press from the Geneva headquarters of the humanitarian agency, which serves as a watchdog to ensure adherence to the Geneva Conventions on the conduct of warfare.
The deposed Iraqi leader has been held in U.S. custody in an undisclosed location in Iraq since his capture in December.
Iraq’s interim prime minister, Iyad Allawi, told Al-Jazeera television yesterday that he received official confirmation that all detainees, including Hussein, would be “handed over to the Iraqi government” within two weeks.
Earlier yesterday the Baghdad-based ICRC spokeswoman, Nada Doumani, told Associated Press Television News that under international and military law, Hussein and other prisoners of war and civilian prisoners should be released at the end of the conflict and occupation unless there were charges against them.
Thank goodness they’ve changed their mind, since we were sure to release Saddam any day now otherwise.
