The official news agency IRNA said Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahrudi has "ordered the prosecutor general to prepare an indictment against Saddam for his crimes during the eight year Iran-Iraq war and to put it through legal channels."

"What is important for the (Iranian) judiciary are the rights that were lost by Iranian citizens during the eight-year sacred defence war, those who lost their loved ones and the many war veterans who were wounded by chemical weapons," Shahrudi was quoted as saying.

Shahrudi also criticised "the fact that Saddam's crimes against human rights during the war and his continuation of such crimes in Halabja and Kurdistan are not among the accusations brought up in this trial."

Iraqi officials announced Sunday that Saddam will go on trial on October 19 over the massacre of Shiite villagers more than two decades ago, and an Iraqi government spokesman added that he could be executed for that crime without facing further charges.

"For Saddam, this indictment is too insignificant and petty," Shahrudi said, urging Iraqi prosecutors "to prepare a real indictment" so that the trial will not be viewed as being "directed by the global arrogance" -- or the United States.

Iran and Iraq fought a devastating eight-year war from 1980-1988 after Saddam attempted to make a land grab in the oil-rich southwest of Iran. The conflict cost the lives of up to a mln people, most of them Iranians, and involved the use of nerve gas and other chemical weapons by Iraqi troops.

Ex-Iranian President, Mohammad Khatami ( Left ), Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahrudi., Iran Judiciary Chief ( Right )
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