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June 15, 2004
LAWS OF WAR
U.S. Is Urged to Charge Hussein Soon
By EDWARD WONG

BAGHDAD, Iraq, June 14 - If the United States government does not bring charges against Saddam Hussein relatively soon it will be technically required, because of his prisoner-of-war status, to release him after the restoration of limited sovereignty, officials with human rights and aid groups said Monday.

None of the officials were advocating Mr. Hussein's release, and they said they wanted him to stand trial. But they also said that since the United States insists that the occupation will formally end on June 30, when limited powers will be handed to the interim Iraqi government, the Geneva Convention requires that the Americans bring charges against their prisoners of war or release them.

"We're not making any ultimatums or calls for release," Antonella Notari, chief spokeswoman of the International Committee of the Red Cross, told The Associated Press in Geneva on Monday. "What we're saying is: 'Saddam Hussein, as far as we understand today, is a P.O.W., prisoner of war, protected by the third Geneva Convention as all prisoners of war are.'

"In theory, when a war ends and when an occupation ends, the detaining force has to release prisoners of war or civilian detainees if there are no reasons for holding them."

But she added that a prisoner of war who is suspected of committing criminal acts should be prosecuted and tried rather than simply released.
http://nytimes.com

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So why hasn't he been charged already?

Which country should charge and try him?