Iraq Trial In April For Murder Of British Soldiers

Two former officials of Saddam Hussein's government will face trial in mid-April on war crimes charges for the execution of two British soldiers during the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, a court official said on Tuesday.

"It's the first time an Iraqi court has held a trial on war crimes charges", Judge Arif Abdel-Razaq al-Shaheen, who heads the Iraqi High Tribunal, told Reuters.

The two Iraqi officials, whom Shaheen declined to identify, were handed over to Iraqi judicial authorities recently by the British military after Britain's House of Lords rejected objections to them being tried in Iraq.

Staff Sergeant Simon Cullingworth, then 36, and Sapper Luke Allsopp, who was 24, were captured near the southern oil city of Basra during the invasion to oust Saddam.

Their bodies were later shown on television lying by a roadside and surrounded by an exultant mob.

Shaheen said they were captured by members of Saddam's Baath party when their military vehicle came under Iraqi fire.

"The two British soldiers were captured by a Baath Party force in Zubair in March 2003 and after being taken prisoner they were executed," the judge said.

"Investigative judges are done with studying the case and the trial will start in mid April."

The head of the Iraqi court pledged the defendants would get a fair trial according to international law.

The Iraqi High Tribunal was set up to try former Baath party members and officials of the Saddam government.

Saddam was executed in December 2006 after being convicted of crimes against humanity for the killing of 148 Shi'ite Muslim men after a 1982 assassination attempt.

Shaheen said the court would stop taking new cases in March to wrap up its business by the end of the year, as had been foreseen when it was established.