![Iraqi government to prosecute Saddam Hussein on 12 charges](https://www.jurist.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/jurist-white-text.png)
[JURIST] The Iraqi government announced Sunday that former dictator Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive] will face 12 charges at trial. Iraqi government spokesman Laith Kuba told reporters in a press conference that Hussein could have faced nearly 500 charges, but prosecuting him on all charges would be a “waste of time”. Hussein's trial in front of the Iraqi Special Tribunal [official website] is expected to start in the next two months. During a 2004 court appearance, Hussein was informed of seven preliminary charges [BBC backgrounder] against him related to the 'ethnic cleansing' campaign against Kurds in 1998 and the mass murder of Kurdish and Shia rebellions after the 1991 Gulf War. AP has more.