Iraqi Judge on Tribunal Assassinated in Baghdad

One of the judges assigned to hear cases against ousted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and members of his regime was assassinated here Tuesday, officials said.

Barwez Mohammed Mahmoud and a relative were shot and killed in northern Baghdad’s Azamyiah district, one official said.

Mahmoud’s role on the tribunal was unclear. The judges’ names have not been publicized because of safety concerns, but there are at least a few dozen of them.

The killing came a day after five colleagues of Hussein, including a half-brother, became the ex-regime’s first defendants ordered to face trial on charges of crimes against humanity.

The charges stem from a July 8, 1982, incident in which Hussein’s motorcade was fired on by a small group of villagers as it sped through Dujayl, about 40 miles north of Baghdad. Within hours, Iraqi intelligence agents and police descended on the largely Shiite Muslim village.

The defendants are accused of arranging the executions of more than 140 villagers and the imprisonment of about 1,500 people.

Each defendant could face the death penalty if convicted. They include Barzan Ibrahim Hassan Tikriti, 53, Hussein’s half-brother and former chief of Iraqi intelligence.

When news of the assassination broke Tuesday, “NBC Nightly News” had to scramble to correct a story that said the victim was the head judge.

An early version of the newscast, seen by viewers on the East Coast, led with an exclusive from chief Pentagon correspondent Jim Miklaszewski. The report said Raid Juhi, the top judge, was slain. Other media picked up the story.

Within minutes, Bush administration officials evidently contacted NBC to say it had gotten bad information.

In a second airing of the newscast half an hour later for viewers in Washington, NBC corrected the report, identifying the victim as Mahmoud.

“We had information from two sources we believed was true at the time, and it wasn’t,” NBC’s Barbara Levin said.