BAGHDAD, July 17 (Xinhuanet) -- Iraq's special tribunal said court proceedings against ousted president Saddam Hussein and his top aides could begin "within days" over crimes against the people.

    Raed Jouhi, head of the tribunal, said in a press conference that Saddam Hussein had been charged along with his three aides in connection with the killing of Shiite Muslims in the village of Dujail, north of Baghdad, in 1982.

    Proceedings against Saddam and others could begin "within days", Jouhi said, without specifying when the charges had been made.

    According to the Iraqi law, the trial could only begin 45 days after the charges have been made. If the charges were made in recent days, the trial is expected to be held in September.

    Dujail, 60 km north of Baghdad, was the scene of the brutal retaliation by the Saddam regime after Saddam survived anassassination attempt there in 1982. About 143 Shiite civilians were executed.

    Besides Saddam, his brother-in-law Barzan Ibrahim Al-Hassan, former vice-president Taha Yasin Ramadan, former top judge Awad Badar Al-Bender are among the charged in the Dujail case.

    The tribunal was also investigating other allegations including genocide against Kurdish people in northern Iraq in 1988, Jouhi said. Enditem