Iraqi Special Tribunal Judge Murdered

I recently posted about Saddam’s trial moving forward. Yesterday, one of the judges of the Iraqi Special Tribunal, Barwize Mohammed Mahmoud al-Merani, and his son were murdered. (News report is here.) The judge was also a leading Kurdish politician and his son was an attorney at the tribunal. Authorities believe they were killed by insurgents.

This comes a day after the news of the turn-over of Saddam’s half brother, Ibrahim al-Hasan al-Tikriti , by Syria. Al-Tikrit is now believed to be the first person likely tried by the tribunal.

Legal transitions are often a process of two steps forward/one step back but it is difficult to think of one with higher stakes than this one.