The Iraqi Government is considering a curfew for Baghdad and other areas as it seeks to stave off a potential bloodbath, an adviser to the Prime Minister told The Times.

Saddam, his half-brother Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, Taha Yassin Ramadan, his Vice President, and Awad alBandhar, a revolutionary court judge, face possible death sentences for the execution of 148 Shia villagers from the town of Dujail after a failed 1982 assassination attempt on the former Iraqi leader. Four others face lighter sentences.

Saddam is likely to win the right to appeal against any death sentence.

The trial, which started in October 2005, aimed to heal Iraq’s wounds after Saddam and his Baath party’s 35-year reign. Instead, it has become a symbol of Iraq’s divisions among its long-oppressed Shia majority, who now rule the country, and Saddam’s Sunni religious sect, which held power until the US-led forces ousted Saddam’s regime in 2003.

In the past year, sectarian strife has enmeshed the country in what many Iraqis believe is a civil war. Clashes between Sunnis and Shias tomorrow could push the country over the edge.

Iraqi officials worry that Saddam’s Baath followers and other Sunni insurgents will attack Shia communities when Iraq’s high tribunal announces the toppled strongman’s fate.

“Once they see their dictator being sentenced, at that historic moment, I’m afraid they will escalate their attacks and mobilise,” said Bassam Ridha, an adviser to the Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki.

Mr Ridha fears that Sunni insurgents will assault Dujail because of residents’ testimony against Saddam during his trial.

He said that some officials favored a curfew for Baghdad, Dujail and other areas. “We could have a curfew that day. But it’s not a done deal yet. The Prime Minister has to make a decision.” Mr al-Maliki was due to meet Iraqi and US security officials today to make a final decision, Mr Ridha said.

The Iraqi Defence Minister yesterday cancelled all leave for army soldiers. Abdul-Qader al-Obeidi was heard issuing the order in videotaped footage of a meeting between Mr al- Maliki and senior military and security officials, in which the Prime Minister upbraided them for failing to stop the capital’s unbridled violence.

The Dujail trial marked the first time that a Middle East leader has been brought to justice for alleged human rights abuses. However, the proceedings have been marred by the murder of three defence lawyers and the resignation of the court’s first chief justice, citing pressure from the Government.

In Baghdad ordinary Iraqis expressed charged opinions about the trial’s verdict. Sunnis were resentful and Shia gleeful about Saddam’s possible fate.

Hussein Hamed, a former guard at Saddam’s main palace in Baghdad, said: “We know the death sentence will be Saddam’s fate. When a lion get sick, the monkeys dance on his back. His rule was 100 per cent better than today. No one is safe in Iraq now.”

• The Times is the only British newspaper to maintain a full time Baghdad bureau.

  ON TRIAL

  Dec 14, 2003 Saddam Hussein captured

  Jan 8, 2004 Bush administration earmarks $75m to pay for trial

  Oct 19, 2005 ‘Dujail’ trial begins. Saddam and seven others tried for arrest, torture, killings and deportation of 399 people in Dujail in 1982

  Dec 7, 2005 Sadam boycotts trial in protest against conditions of his detention

  Jan 23, 2006 Judge Raouf Abdul Rahman takes over from Judge Rizgar Amin, who resigned over claims he was too lenient

  June 21 Saddam’s defence lawyer shot dead. Saddam begins hunger strike, returns to court on July 26, asking to be shot not hanged if condemned

  August 21 ‘Anfal’ trial begins. Saddam and six others, including Ali Hassan al-Majid (Chemical Ali), tried over killing of 100,000 Kurds in 1987-88

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