Toppled dictator Saddam Hussein will be handed over to Iraqi officials before the June 30th handover of power to face a trial and possible death sentence, according to the lawyer coordinating the trial.
"The coalition forces now have more than 100 detained former regime officials," Mr Salem Chalabi told reporters in Kuwait. "They will be transferred to us before the transfer of power, and they include Saddam Hussein, Ali Hassan al-Majid and Tareq Aziz."
Aziz was Iraq's former deputy prime minister under Saddam. Majid, known as "Chemical Ali" for his role in deadly chemical attacks against Iraqi Kurds at Halabja in 1988, was Saddam's feared cousin and commander of southern Iraq.
Washington has pledged to hand sovereignty to an unelected Iraqi government by June 30th.
There was no immediate confirmation from US officials about a handover of Saddam, or from International Red Cross officials, who visited him at a secret prison in Iraq in April.
But an official familiar with international law, speaking on condition of anonymity, said handing over Saddam and the others might not comply with international agreements.
She said a prisoner of war must be handed over to a sovereign government, but Iraq will not have a sovereign government until July 1st, when the US transfers power.
Also, a prisoner of war must be transferred to an authority which has signed the Geneva Convention, something Iraq did in 1956, although it hasn't signed subsequent protocols.
Mr Chalabi said the Iraqi trials would begin early next year but Saddam may not be the first in the dock.
Those found guilty by the tribunal could face the death penalty, said the US-educated lawyer who is director-general of administration for the special tribunal set up to prosecute Saddam and his henchmen.
"The punishments against those criminals will include executions," Mr Chalabi told reporters upon arrival in Kuwait where he said he will collect evidence against Saddam, whose forces occupied the tiny Gulf Arab state in 1990.