BAGHDAD, 1 March 2005 — The Iraqi Special Tribunal announced yesterday it had completed preliminary investigations into some of the alleged crimes committed by several of Saddam Hussein’s top henchmen, and it will send the first group of five to trial.

No date was given for trials to begin, but the announcement marks the first time the special court has issued referrals, similar to indictments, the final step before trials can start.

The five include Barzan Ibrahim Al-Hassan Al-Tikriti, one of Saddam’s half brothers, and former Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan. The three others were senior Baath party members.

The five officials are facing charges of crimes against humanity for their alleged involvement in a crackdown in Dujail, 80 kilometers north of Baghdad, that was organized in retaliation for a failed 1982 assassination attempt against Saddam. At least 50 Iraqis were allegedly executed in the Shiite town.

“This case is one of several cases being investigated,” the tribunal said in a statement. “The detainees of this case are also accused of other crimes still being investigated.”

The referrals were the first of many expected to be issued in coming weeks, including one against Saddam’s notorious cousin Ali Hassan Al-Majid, better known as Chemical Ali. In December, investigative judges summoned Al-Majid for closed-door preliminary hearings for his role in poison gas attacks against Iraq’s Kurdish minority.

Due to a mandatory waiting period, the judges must wait at least 45 days from yesterday’s referral, before the trial can begin.

The three others on trial were identified as Awad Hamad Al-Bander Al-S’adun, a former chief judge of the Revolutionary Court, Abdullah Kadam Roweed Al-Musheikhi, and his son, Mizher Roweed Al-Musheikhi. The latter two were local Baath officials in Al-Dujail.

Saddam was captured north of Baghdad in December 2003, and others have been in custody for nearly two years.

US military officials transferred 12 of the top defendants to Iraqi custody in June with the handover of sovereignty. They’re being held at an undisclosed location near Baghdad International Airport, west of the capital, the tribunal said in a statement.

Unlike the legal system in the United States, the Iraqi tribunal will have no jury and the verdicts and sentencing will be handed down through a majority decision of the five-judge panel.

The court will hear from victims, witnesses, a state prosecutor, defense witnesses and in some cases the defendants themselves. Some of the defendants will likely face more than one trial, as multiple crimes are normally brought to trial separately under Iraqi law.

Defendants have the right to appeal verdicts to a nine-judge appellate chamber.