Iraqi authorities expressed surprise and disappointment today at reports that Pentagon lawyers have determined that Saddam Hussein has been a prisoner of war since American forces captured him last month.
Some Iraqis expressed concern that prisoner of war status, which grants Saddam certain legal rights and protection under the Geneva Conventions, could prevent Iraqi courts from trying the ousted dictator for alleged crimes against the Iraqi people.
"I am surprised by this decision," said Mr Dara Nor al-Din, a former appeals court judge and member of the Iraqi Governing Council.
"We still consider Saddam a criminal and he will be tried on this basis. This new move will be discussed thoroughly in the Governing Council."
Yesterday a Pentagon spokesman, Major Michael Shavers, said the Defence Department's top civilian lawyers had determined that Saddam was a prisoner of war because of his status as former commander-in-chief of Iraq's military. The lawyers determined that no formal declaration of Saddam's status was needed, he said.
US officials have said they plan to turn Saddam over to an Iraqi court for trial. The United States says Saddam's government killed at least 300,000 Iraqis, including thousands of Iraqi Kurds in a poison gas attack in 1988.
But the Geneva Conventions say POWs can be tried only for crimes against humanity by an international tribunal or the occupying power - which in this case is the United States.
Iraq's justice minister, Mr Hashim Abdul-Rahman, called the Pentagon comments "mere views" and insisted that Iraqis themselves would determine Saddam's fate.