Baghdad: Iraqi security forces are on alert and a curfew may be imposed to avoid violence if Saddam Hussein is sentenced to death on Sunday when a court gives its verdict in his trial for crimes against humanity.
Saddam's chief lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi said on Friday the ousted Iraqi president believed the verdict was timed to boost President George W Bush before US mid-term elections on November 7 and urged a delay.
He also warned of bloodshed if Saddam is sentenced to death. Saddam, 69, and seven co-accused have been charged with crimes against humanity for the killing of 148 Shi'ite villagers after an attempt on his life in the town of Dujail in 1982.
If convicted, Saddam faces death by hanging; a prospect Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has said cannot come soon enough. Even if convicted, the fulfillment of a death sentence may be many months, even years, away as it would have to wait until all appeals are exhausted.
He is due back in court on Tuesday in another trial, for genocide against ethnic Kurds. The Defence Ministry on Friday cancelled all leave for army officers in anticipation of the verdict.
A government source said on Saturday authorities were discussing whether to impose a curfew, a common step in recent months at sensitive times. Various Sunni Arab insurgent groups see the ousted president as a figurehead in their resistance against US troops.
He remains a deeply divisive figure in a country riven by sectarian violence between the Sunni Arab minority; Kurds and Shi'ites who were oppressed by Saddam but now dominate political power.
The verdict is the high point of a historic, US-sponsored experiment in international justice intended to unite Iraqis in exorcising three decades of rule by the former president, accused of mass killing and torture.
Many Iraqis more interested in peace
But while the eyes of the world may be turned to the trial, many Iraqis are preoccupied with relentless sectarian violence and insurgent attacks killing hundreds every week.
"Every day my heart is tortured when one of my six sons is late, fearing he might be kidnapped or hurt," said Um Adnan, a 68-year-old housewife. "Don't ask me about Saddam, ask me about seeing peace prevail in Iraq and my sons stay alive."
In Baghdad on Saturday, US-backed Iraqi special forces raided a target in the Shi'ite slum district of Sadr City, returning to an area where recent raids have sparked tensions with Washington over cracking down on militias.
The US military said special Iraqi Army forces with coalition advisers detained three suspects during the raid on "an illegal armed group murder and kidnapping cell".
Washington has been pressing Maliki to crack down on the Mehdi Army, a Shi'ite Muslim militia loyal to cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, whose movement provides him key support in parliament. Sadr City is the main stronghold in Baghdad of the Mehdi Army, blamed by Sunni Muslims and Washington for operating sectarian death squads.
US and Iraqi troops lifted road blocks around Sadr City on Tuesday under orders from Maliki, flexing his political muscle after a week of friction with Washington before US elections.
Maliki had criticised a raid on Sadr City last week targeting a suspected militia death squad leader, saying he had not been informed in advance that the scope of the mission also included hunting for a missing US soldier.
The US military launched a massive search for the soldier, an American of Iraqi-descent who was kidnapped on October 23 after going to visit relatives and his Iraqi wife outside the safety of the Green Zone.
The soldier's family told reporters he was taken by gunmen from the Mehdi Army.
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