by Ned Parker
BAGHDAD - Gunmen have shot dead an Iraqi judge and his son who both worked for a tribunal set up to try ousted president Saddam Hussein and his lieutenants, court sources said Wednesday.
And in a separate incident also on Tuesday, gunmen fired three times and seriously wounded investigative judge Wayed al-Jadr moments after he left his courthouse in eastern Baghdad, a justice official said.
The two attacks were the latest in a campaign by insurgents to derail Iraq's legal system. Insurgents have killed 20 judges across Iraq since Saddam's regime was toppled in April 2003, the official said.
Judge Barwize Mohamed Marwane and his son Arayane were gunned down as they stepped out of their home in the northern Baghdad district of Adhamiyah, the court sources said.
Marwane was an investigative judge on the Iraqi Special Tribunal set up to try Saddam and other former regime officials, while his son worked as a court clerk, they said. Both were Kurds.
They were the first known members of the tribunal to be killed.
"They (the killers) are trying to destroy the authority of the government," said interior ministry official Sabah Kadhim.
"These last killings are significant because of the fact we've started the trial of Saddam's gang. They are trying to scare people off."
It was the first murder of a judge since January 25 when gunmen danced in the street, shouting, "This is what will happen to the traitor Shiites", after assassinating judge Qaiss Hashem al-Shamari, 32, the secretary of Iraq's council of judges.
The latest killings came a day after the Iraqi Special Tribunal said Saddam's half-brother Barzan Ibrahim al-Hassan al-Tikriti, former vice president Taha Yassin Ramadan and three others would be the first Baath party members to go on trial.
The trials will not begin for at least 45 days, it said.
The five are to be tried for the 1982 killing of 143 residents of Dujail, a village northeast of Baghdad. They are accused of carrying out revenge murders after Dujail villagers allegedly tried to assassinate Saddam.
A Western legal expert said Monday the tribunal's work had been impaired by security threats but refused to comment on whether any members had been killed or wounded. There are 30 judges employed by the tribunal.
The judges and staff are protected by an array of security forces provided by the Iraqi government or the American military, while some tribunal members have personal bodyguards.
Investigative judges are still working to build cases against Saddam, his first cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid and other senior members of the former ruling Baath party.
Saddam and his former officials are expected to be charged with war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity for murdering Kurds and Shiites over the course of the Baath party's 35-year reign.
The Iraqi Special Tribunal, established in December 2003 by the US-led coalition, has the power to impose the death sentence.
The body was tarred by its own scandal in August when its former director Salam Chalabi, a nephew of politician Ahmed Chalabi, was removed after an Iraqi judge said the tribunal's chief was under investigation for murder.
Salam Chalabi, wanted in connection with the murder of an Iraqi finance ministry official, left the country.
03/02/2005 14:28 GMT