Related: Saddam trial judge to quit over political pressure

    BAGHDAD, Jan. 17 (Xinhuanet) -- The Iraqi court trying ousted president Saddam Hussein is expected to name Judge Saed al-Hammashi as chief judge, after efforts failed to persuade the Kurdish judge to withdraw his resignation, a court official said on Tuesday.

    "We expect that Saed al-Hammashi will preside over the next hearing on Jan. 24," a source in the media office of the Iraqi High Tribunal told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

    "According to the law, the second high judge of the five judges will replace the chief judge in case of his absence," the source said.

    However, he said the government has not accepted Rizgar Muhammed Amin's resignation yet.

    Amin, 48, submitted his resignation to the tribunal on Sunday over political pressures after Shiite politicians criticized him for being lenient with Saddam and his codefendants.

    Amin was born in Sulaimaniyah, some 330 km north of Baghdad. He is among the five-judge panel which prosecutes Saddam and his seven aides over ordering the massacre of more than 140 Shiites inthe town of Dujail, north of Baghdad, following a 1982 assassination attempt on Saddam, the then Iraqi leader. Enditem