Dulaimi warns US against handover

Amman/Rome/Baghdad: Saddam Hussain's chief lawyer yesterday urged the United States not to hand over the ousted leader to Iraqi authorities before his expected execution because he is a "war prisoner."

Lawyer Khalil Al Dulaimi called on international and legal organisations including the Arab League and United Nations to "rapidly prevent" the Americans from handing Saddam to the Iraqis.

"According to the international conventions it is forbidden to hand a prisoner of war to his adversary," he said.

Saddam is being held at Camp Cropper, an American military prison close to Baghdad's airport. The US military has had Saddam Hussain in its custody, on behalf of the Iraqis, since his capture.

Al Dulaimi warned that turning over Saddam to the Iraqis would increase the sectarian violence that already is tearing the country apart.

Meanwhile, Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi said Saddam's execution will do nothing to pacify the country.

"From a political point of view the decision to sentence Saddam to death runs the risk of causing more negative than positive effects on the stability of the country," Prodi said.

"I don't think the execution of Saddam will in any way help the pacification of the country," he added.

In the meantime, an Iraqi court published its formal written condemnation of Saddam, setting into motion the legal machinery leading to his execution, as 25 people were killed in attacks.

Seven people were killed and 25 wounded when two booby traps exploded in a popular Baghdad market during the busy morning shopping rush, military officials and medics at Al Kindi hospital said.

Another 10 people were killed and 35 wounded in east Baghdad near the Sha'ab stadium when a bomb exploded among a crowd queuing for heating fuel, according to a security official and medics at the Bin Nafis hospital.