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BAGHDAD, Iraq - Salem Chalabi, the man charged with organizing the trial of Saddam Hussein, will be removed from his post by the interim government because he failed to return to the country to face murder charges, the Iraqi National Congress said Tuesday. There was no confirmation from the office of interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, where a spokesman said the prime minister hadn't signed any document that would remove Chalabi from his post overseeing Saddam's trial. But Chalabi, reached by Knight Ridder in London, said he had been removed and declined to comment further. INC spokesman Haider Musawi...

Ahmed Chalabi, the Iraqi politician and former US favourite, has said that criminal charges against him in Iraq have been dropped. A judge issued a warrant in August over an alleged counterfeit operation but no action was taken for Mr Chalabi's arrest when he returned to Iraq. Mr Chalabi also announced that murder charges had been dropped against his nephew, Salem, currently out of Iraq. The fact of the charges being dropped could not be immediately confirmed. On Wednesday morning, Ahmed Chalabi survived what seemed to be an assassination attempt when gunmen opened fire on his motorcade. The BBC's Paul...

AHMAD Chalabi, the politician once groomed by Washington to lead Iraq, and his nephew Salem were holding talks with the Baghdad government yesterday to try to arrange their safe return after a judge ordered their arrest. The two men, at present out of Iraq, have dismissed the arrest warrants issued at the weekend as part of a political smear campaign. "I can easily prove that these charges are untrue and I intend to defend myself and clear my name," Ahmad Chalabi told reporters in Teheran. There are fears that the pair could be killed if they are jailed with former...

Salem Chalabi, the head of the Iraqi tribunal trying Saddam Hussein, will not be extradited on murder charges while he is in London, the Foreign Office has confirmed. An arrest warrant for Mr Chalabi, 41, was issued last week over the murder of Haithem Fadhil, director general of the Iraqi finance ministry. Mr Chalabi, a lawyer and the executive director of the special tribunal trying Saddam, is on a private visit to London and has denied any involvement in the killing. Zuhair al-Maliky, Iraq's chief investigating judge, claims Mr Chalabi made a threat to kill Mr Fadhil after he accused...

BAGHDAD (AFP) - The head of the Iraqi Special Tribunal prosecuting Saddam Hussein and 11 of his lieutenants has outlined the path forward in the biggest legal case in the history of Iraq. Salem Chalabi said that as a first step he will be pushing for the group of 11, who include the likes of Saddam's presidential adviser and first cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid and former vice president Taha Yassin Ramadan, to be jailed in separate cells as soon as Friday. "Right now only number one (Saddam) is isolated from the rest," Chalabi told reporters late Thursday. "One bad thing...

BAGHDAD — Saddam Hussein, looking thinner after nearly seven months as a U.S. captive, was transferred to Iraqi custody today, reducing him to a criminal defendant in the land he once ruled and launching the painful process of holding him and his top aides accountable for their crimes. The former dictator and 11 of his top lieutenants are no longer prisoners of war but still locked up with U.S. forces as their jailers. On Thursday, the 12 will appear before an Iraqi judge to hear criminal charges likely to include war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. President Ghazi al-Yawer...