TEHRAN, 12 July 2004 — The Iraqi lawyer organizing the trial of Saddam Hussein will visit Tehran soon to discuss the charges which Iran wants to bring against the former Iraqi leader, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman said yesterday.
Salem Chalabi is leading the work of the Iraqi Special Tribunal which will try Saddam, caught last year by US troops. Saddam appeared before the court on July 1 and was told he would face charges relating to seven alleged crimes spanning three decades.
But no mention was made of Saddam’s 1980-1988 war against Iran. Iranian officials have said they are preparing their own indictment against Saddam to submit to the Baghdad court.
“Chalabi... together with judges of (Saddam’s) case will come to Iran in future,” Hamid Reza Asefi said at a weekly news conference. He added that Chalabi’s visit would “not be long from now.”
He said Iran had already held constructive talks with members of the tribunal and informed them about Iran’s charges against the former Iraqi dictator.
No one at Chalabi’s office in Baghdad was immediately available for comment.
Asefi added that a visit by Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi to Tehran had also been agreed by the two countries. He did not say when the visit would take place.
Although strongly opposed to the US-led war and occupation of Iraq, Iran has welcomed the interim government and is trying to establish good ties with the new administration.
A source in Allawi’s office said he intended to visit Iraq’s Arab neighbors and possibly also Iran and Turkey, but no dates had been set.
Washington has accused Tehran of seeking to destabilize and gain influence in Iraq which, like Iran, is predominantly Shiite. Tehran denies interfering in Iraqi affairs.
Iran, on the other hand, has expressed concern over reports that intelligence agents from archfoe Israel are operating along its Western borders with northern Iraq. “If it is true, it would be of grave concern to Iran... Israel’s activity in northern Iraq is a threat to the Muslim world,” Asefi said yesterday.
A US Army general, once in charge of Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison, said last week that she met an Israeli interrogator during her time there, appearing to confirm speculation that Israel might have helped the US-led coalition.
