In their legal custody according to Yahoo quoting Jim Krane, Associated Press Writer.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqis and the world will get their first glimpse of Saddam Hussein since his capture in December when he and 11 of his top lieutenants are brought to court Thursday to face war crimes charges likely to include the 1988 chemical weapons massacre of Kurds and the 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

Already there are pretrial negotiations over permitting Saddam’s foreign legal team to work in Iraq, whether to televise the proceedings and whether to reinstate the harshest penalty in Iraq’s legal code: hanging by the neck until dead.

Iraq will take legal custody of Saddam from the U.S. Army on Wednesday and the former dictator is to make his first court appearance Thursday, where he will be informed of the charges in his arrest warrant, Prime Minister Iyad Allawi announced Tuesday.

Salem Chalabi, director of the Iraqi Special Tribunal that will try Saddam, said Thursday’s appearance at the tribunal, housed in a courthouse with a prominent clock tower inside Baghdad’s sealed-off Green Zone, is expected to be filmed for public release.

He does have a few crimes to answer for, to wit.

The crimes against humanity for which Saddam is expected to be tried include the 1988 chemical weapons massacre of Kurds in Halabja, the slaughter of Shiites during a 1991 uprising in southern Iraq, the 1990 invasion of Kuwait and the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.

That will keep them busy for quite some time unless there is a massive terrorist attack on said courthouse with a prominent clock tower killing all within. We’ll see, not holdimg my breath here.