Judge on Saddam tribunal killed
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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A judge and his lawyer son working with the special court that will hear charges of human rights abuse against Saddam Hussein and senior members of his government has been gunned down by insurgents, sources said.
Judge Barwize Mohammed Mahmoud al-Merani and his son were shot dead early Tuesday in the Raghiba Khatoun neighborhood near the Al-Adhamiya district in northern Baghdad, considered one of the most dangerous areas in the city.
Mahmoud was a judge in the Iraq Special Tribunal and was a leading Kurdish politician, Iraq Special Tribunal officials said. It was not immediately clear what cases he was to hear.
The son, Aryan Mahmoud al-Merani, worked as an attorney for the tribunal.
The killings came a day after the tribunal said a half-brother of Saddam -- Barzan Ibrahim Hassan Al-Tikriti -- would probably be the first to face trial on human rights charges.
These would cover crimes allegedly committed in 1982 in the village of Al-Dujail, where 150 families were killed and hundreds more deported.
Another half-brother of Saddam -- Sab'awi Ibrahim al-Hasan al-Tikriti -- was captured with information provided by Syria, Iraq's interim defense minister said on Tuesday. (Full story)
However, a tribunal official, who did not want to be identified, said the judge was not killed because of his job.
"He was not killed because he was working at the tribunal," he told The Associated Press. "It was something personal. I don't have details, but investigations are still going on."
The judge's surviving son disagreed though, saying the two men were killed either because they worked for the court, or because they were minority Kurds.
"We believe that the murder is politically motivated, because the two killed were working in the special tribunal and the son was a senior member in the PUK office in Baghdad. The late judge had no personal problems with anybody at all," Kikawz Barwez Mohammed al-Merani told AP.
"This is a terrorist act carried out by Baathists and terrorists."
The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan is one of two key northern Kurdish parties. U.S. authorities dissolved Saddam's former ruling Baath party after ousting him from power.
The tribunal was established in late 2003 to bring charges against members of Saddam's regime for crimes against humanity, including war crimes in connection with Iraq's wars against Iran and Kuwait.
The statute establishing the tribunal calls for it to have one or more five-judge panels to hear cases.
Tuesday's killings were the first of any staff working on the Iraqi Special Tribunal, which comprises more than 60 judges, a tribunal official told AP.
The tribunal's judges and legal staff have never been publicly identified because of concerns for their safety, and officials have even refused to say where the court is located.
According to sources, Mahmoud was one of several people targeted around Baghdad.
Another judge, Moayad Hamed Al-Jader, and one of his guards were severely wounded in the neighborhood of Jadeeda. The 60-year-old investigative judge was riding with two guards when occupants of another vehicle began shooting at his automobile, the sources said.
Under Saddam's regime, Al-Jader was a judge in the general security court.
Meanwhile, two Iraqi police officers were killed in the Al-Dora neighborhood in southern Baghdad.
Officer Qosay Fayadh died near the Al-Dora police station when insurgents fired at his home as he was leaving for work. One of the two police officers who went to the scene was killed by a grenade.
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
