Iraq Assumes Legal Custody Of Hussein, 11 Deputies- Still Under Physical Custody

Iraq's new government assumed legal, but not physical, custody of former president Saddam Hussein and 11 of his top deputies Wednesday under an arrangement with the U.S. government that will allow them to be brought before a special tribunal and tried for crimes against humanity. After the transfer of legal custody on Wednesday morning, Hussein and the others were individually marched into a small room at a U.S. detention facility in the Baghdad area and informed by a leader of the tribunal that they were now in the custody of the new government of Iraq, an Iraqi official said. The announcement occurred in the presence of an Iraqi judge and included a statement to each detainee that they would have the right to legal counsel, the official said. [more]