Basra debates future for Saddam

Dumeetha Luthra
BBC correspondent in Basra

Bringing Saddam to justice now preoccupies Iraqis

Iraq's Shias have been making some of the loudest noises about bringing Saddam Hussein to justice.

But, in southern Iraq, there is no agreement on what "justice" means.

More than 200,000 Shias fled to Iran after the government repressed an uprising after the first Gulf War.

Convicts behind bars at Basra's prison are rubbing their wrists from the chaffing of handcuffs.

They know what their futures hold.

They have been tried and sentenced by the Iraqi criminal justice system.

But it remains to be seem what lies in store for Iraq's best-known prisoner, Saddam Hussein.

Rough justice

Officers at the prison have no doubts - the former Iraqi president must be killed.

"He must be killed because he destroyed everything here," said one.

Another said he should be cut up "into small, small pieces".

Saddam should be shown in public, taken to court and everybody should know what crimes he committed Judge Abdul Umfawa

Iraq's legal system is still developing.

At the law courts there is the continual buzz as cases go through the system and paper is pushed from one desk to another.

Senior judge Abdul Umfawa is keen to see an international standard imprinted on Iraq.

He wants to see Saddam go through the system and be tried in an Iraqi court.

"There should be a legal authority. It is not for anybody to take revenge - he should be shown in public, taken to court and everybody should know what crimes he committed," Judge Umfawa said.

Divided

But this view is not a popular one.

We do not want him to be killed straightaway, we want him to be tortured, like he tortured us Iraqi court official

The south suffered severe repression under the old regime.

Around 200,000 people fled to Iran.

Even the judge's own officers disagree with him.

A man simply known as Haidar is working in the law courts of the new Iraq.

His two brothers were killed by Saddam Hussein for political opposition.

He wants old-style justice for his former leader.

It is about being a role model for what we construe to be fair proportionate justice Stephen White, Acting Chief Constable

"We do not want him to be killed straightaway - we want him to be tortured, like he tortured us."

It is within this environment of tribal retribution and understandable anger that Assistant Chief Constable Stephen White is directing law and order in the south.

He says that whatever happens should provide an example for the future.

"Whatever happens... should exemplify what this is all about - about reconstructing, about reforming and perhaps being a role model for what we construe to be fair proportionate justice," Mr White said.

Healing wounds

There is also pressure for a quick trial within the Iraqi justice system, but one that does not allow the opportunity to exacerbate damage already done.

This man must not be given any platform, because he is devious Iraqi Communications Minister Haider Al-Abadi

"This man is an evil man who humiliated the whole country for 35 years. Now I mean, what justice will we bring if we give him respect and give him a platform to talk freely?" Communications Minister Haider Al-Abadi asked rhetorically.

"This man must not be given any platform, because he is devious. He is going to twist his words, he is going to commit more crimes in his speeches against the Iraqi people, he is going to open old wounds.

"We want these ones to heal, and the only way for these wounds to heal is to have a swift and fair trial. This man must be tried quickly."

The euphoria of celebration is over, now the practicalities begin and reality returns.

In Basra this means reconstruction, the hunt for jobs and day to day living.

And now with the capture of Saddam Hussein the debate over the meaning of justice has become all the more intense in Iraq.