Saddam's trial in October; Salem Chalabi resigns court presidency,

The Iraqi prime minister Eyad Allawi said yesterday that the trial of the toppled Iraqi regime Saddam Hussein and his aides might start in October.

Replying to a question by the American "ABC" TV on starting the trial of Saddan Hussein by a specialized Iraqi court, Allawi explained that "some of his detained aides will be in the court and Saddam might appear in November or December but it is evident that the case as a whole will start in October." Allawi added "I do not think that this trial will be longer because accusations addressed to him are confirmed."

He confined to saying on the possibility of executing Saddam Hussein that the Iraqi authorities "approved the death penalty." He continued that Saddam Hussein has not given to his investigators any useful information but many of his "detained friends" did so.

In the same context the New York Times quoted American and Iraqi officials as saying that the first detainee who will be brought before the court is most expectedly the cousin of Saddam Hussein, Ali Hassan al-Majuid known as " Ali Chemical." The same paper quoted Allawi as saying that he received the resignation of the chairman of the Iraqi criminal court assigned to try Saddam Hussein and his aides, Salem al-Chalabi, in whom the court issued a warrant of arrest under the charge of involving on the killing of a director in the Iraqi ministry of finance.

The Iraqi human rights minister Bekhtiar Amin told the paper that he notified Saddam Hussein in his detention that the tribal leader Ghazi Ojeil Alyawer has become the President of the republic in Iraq. He said that Saddam who is isolated from other detainees and deprived from watching the TV or reading the press "was trembling and very disappointed."