BAGHDAD, Dec 16 (AFP) - Preparations to put Saddam Hussein on trial intensified Thursday with a first meeting between the ousted Iraqi president and a member of the defence team appointed by his family.
But even as the special tribunal set up to prosecute his regime confirmed it was poised to begin hearings, a senior official revealed that Saddam himself would be the last to be hauled into the dock.
Defence counsel said the Iraqi leader had appeared well during the four-hour interview, granted nearly a year after his capture by US troops in a hideout near his hometown of Tikrit, north of Baghdad.
The lawyers did not elaborate on where the meeting had taken place but Iraqi officials have confirmed that Saddam is being held at a massive US base at Baghdad airport.
"The president seems in good health, much better compared to his first appearance before the court," said a statement issued in Amman by the legal team appointed by his wife and daughters.
Saddam and 11 senior aides appeared in court in July for the first time since their capture to hear preliminary charges of crimes against humanity. Censored footage of the hearings was later released by the US military.
But Saddam's defence team has challenged the legality of the planned trials, saying the charges are invalid and that detainees have been interrogated without their lawyers.
The Iraq Special Tribunal, established by the US-led coalition last December, confirmed earlier Thursday that it was ready to begin proceedings.
"The Iraqi Special Tribunal will be starting investigative hearings for the senior leadership of the former regime, in coordination with international observers," a statement said.
"The full trial process will adhere strictly to both Iraqi law and international best practices."
The court statement gave no precise start date but the British embassy in Baghdad said that the first hearing would open next week, a timetable it warmly welcomed.
"Those accused of crimes must be brought to justice," said embassy spokeswoman Victoria Whitford.
"It is important not only that justice is done but that justice is seen to be done, so Iraqis can come to terms with their past," she said, adding that Britain had given 1.3 million pounds (2.4 million dollars) in financial assistance for the trials.
In an interview with a Swiss newspaper, Justice Minister Malek Dohan al-Hassan made clear that Saddam himself was likely to be the last of the dozen defendants in custody to appear before the court.
"Saddam himself would be judged the last, long after the elections in January," Hassan told Le Temps during a visit to Geneva.
Ali Hassan al-Majid, better known as "Chemical Ali" for his alleged role in the use of chemical weapons against Kurdish civilians in 1988, will be the first to appear, the minister confirmed.
He would be followed by Barzan Ibrahim Hassan al-Tikriti, a half-brother of Saddam, who was also a top presidential adviser.
The minister criticised the decision to bring forward the first hearings to before landmark polls set for January 30, saying it would have been better to await the legitimacy of an elected government.
"Trials that are so symbolic of the leaders of the ex-regime should have been opened after a legitimate Iraqi government was created by the ballot box, that is to say after the elections," said Hassan.
He added that he would also have preferred that the trials be delayed until after the withdrawal of US-led troops.
The landmark meeting between Saddam and his lawyer came after the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) cancelled planned talks with his defence team.
An ICRC spokesman said the agency had seen little point to the talks after the lawyers accused it of acting as a "tool" of the United States by not revealing details of its five visits to Saddam.
12/16/2004 15:41 GMT - AFP