BEIJING, Nov. 4 (Xinhuanet) -- Iraq canceled leave Friday for all military officers ahead of Sunday's verdict in Saddam Hussein's trial for crimes against humanity to prepare for possible violent outbursts in a month already bloodied by a spasm of killings.

   Former President Saddam and seven former regime officials are accused of ordering the deaths of 148 Shiites in the village of Dujail, north of Baghdad, where the deposed president escaped an assassination attempt in 1982. Saddam could be sentenced to death.

    Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammed al-Askari said the army had canceled all military leaves and called vacationing soldiers back to duty by the order of Defense Minister Abdul-Qader al-Obeidi.

    "This is part of the preparations for Sunday," Askari said.

    Many of Saddam's fellow Sunni Arabs, along with some Shiites and Kurds, are predicting a firestorm of violence if the court sentences the ex-president to death, as is widely expected. Bloodshed is already high, with police finding the bodies of 87 torture victims throughout the capital between 6 a.m. Thursday and 6 p.m. Friday, with seven U.S. deaths on Thursday for a single day.

    Al-Maliki's demand for a speedier transfer of power to his military was believed to have been among issues he discussed with U.S. National Intelligence Director John Negroponte in the heavily fortified Green Zone.

    (Agencies)

    Related:

    Saddam faces possible death sentence

    BAGHDAD, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi former president Saddam Hussein's genocide trial against the Kurds in 1980s resumed on Wednesday during which Kurdish witnesses told the court how they survived a massacre by Saddam's death squad.

    Iraqi court may announce Saddam verdict on Nov. 5

    BAGHDAD, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi court trying the former leader Saddam Hussein and seven of his aides on charges of crimes against humanity on Dujail case may announce its verdict over the crimes on Nov. 5, a court official said on Monday.

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