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A verdict against Saddam Hussein and seven co-defendants charged with crimes against humanity in connection with an anti-Shi'ite crackdown in the 1980s will be announced on November 5, chief investigating judge Raid Juhi said Monday. Sentences for those found guilty will be issued the same day, he said.

Saddam could be hanged if convicted. However, he could appeal the sentence to a higher, nine-judge court.

Saddam, meanwhile, told Iraqis in an open, three-page letter that Iraq's "liberation is at hand" and called on Sunni insurgents to show mercy to their enemies. He also urged Iraqis to set aside sectarian and ethnic divisions and instead focus on driving US forces out of Iraq.
 
The letter, a text of which was obtained in Amman, Jordan, appeared designed to cast the former president in the role of a nationalist leader who could reconcile and rebuild a nation now beset by rising sectarian violence, an enduring insurgency and deepening economic woes.

The letter also appears to reflect Saddam's belief that the tide may be turning against the Americans in Iraq and the Shi'ite-dominated government they support.

"The hour of liberation is at hand, God willing, but remember that your near-term goal is confined to freeing your country from the forces of occupation and their followers and not be preoccupied with settling scores or deviate from your goal," Saddam said.

Saddam's trial began a year ago with him and his co-defendants facing charges arising from the deaths of nearly 150 Shi'ites from the town of Dujail after a 1982 assassination attempt against Saddam in the town north of Baghdad.

Saddam's co-defendants include his former deputy, Taha Yassin Ramadan, and his half brother and former intelligence chief Barzan Ibrahim.

"The Dujail trial will resume November 5 when the presiding judge will announce the verdict and the sentencing," Juhi, the investigating judge, said.

Saddam is the chief defendant in another trial, facing genocide charges in connection with a government crackdown in the 1980s against Iraqi Kurds. The prosecution alleges about 180,000 people died in that campaign.

Saddam's chief lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi said the former president dictated the letter to him during a four-hour meeting in a Baghdad detention facility on Saturday. The meeting was also attended by other Saddam lawyers, including former US Attorney-General Ramsey Clark, he said.

(China Daily October 17, 2006)