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Appeal process set in motion

Atul Aneja

No benefit, says attorney

Baghdad: Iraqi judges have initiated the automatic appeal process for the former President, Saddam Hussein, following Sunday's verdict. Spokesman of the Iraqi High Tribunal, Raed Juhi, said the court, which had tried Mr. Hussein would have 10 days, starting Monday, to submit details about its ruling, to an appeals committee.

This nine-member panel would then consider the case within 20 days after the 10-day filing deadline expired. Thereafter, the committee would retire to consider the verdict, but no time frame for the announcement of the

judgment, which would be binding, has been set.

Sceptical about the appellate process, Mr. Hussein's lead attorney, Khalil Al Dulaimi, said, "My experience with this court shows that there is no benefit to gain from appealing because this court is political; nevertheless we will appeal."

An American helicopter crashed near Tikrit, Mr. Hussein's hometown, killing two U.S. servicemen.

The cause of the crash is not yet known and an inquiry has been ordered.

Three more troops were killed over the weekend in fighting in the troubled Anbar province, raising the American death toll in Iraq this month to 18.

Curfew imposed

Reuters, AP report:

A curfew in Baghdad and other areas in Iraq to prevent a backlash against the verdict will be lifted on Tuesday, said the Prime Minister's Office on Monday.

It said vehicles would be allowed back in the streets of the capital at 6 a.m. Pedestrians are free to travel immediately in Baghdad.

Mortars slammed into a Sunni neighbourhood in Baghdad on Monday, despite a round-the-clock curfew and two volatile Sunni provinces in the wake of the verdict. Witnesses said at least five mortar bombs landed on northern Baghdad's Adhamiya district, though there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties. Other parts of Baghdad were mostly quiet, with offices and the international airport closed and few cars or pedestrians on the streets.

Checkpoints were also closed along Iraq's border with Jordan and Syria.

The gatherings were mostly peaceful, however, and an Interior Ministry spokesman credited the round-the-clock restrictions with staving off a feared-for spike in violence around the announcement of the verdict yesterday.

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