Security High at Baghdad Court
The Rule of Law Complex in Baghdad houses both jailed detainees and judges whose lives could be in danger on the outside.
The complex is heavily fortified, and the names of the judges who work and live there remain secret, the New York Times reports.
“Our work is really a challenge,” one judge told the newspaper. He lives in the compound with his wife and children. “I have not seen Baghdad for three months.”
The court inside the complex is handling some of the country’s most serious criminal trials. It began hearing cases in June and has tried 43 suspects.
The United States has been instrumental in helping the court get started. It supplied investigators, lawyers and paralegals. U.S. reconstruction funds are being used to build an $11 million court that will replace the temporary courtroom being used now.
Iraq will take over the cost of operating the complex next month. Similar complexes are being planned for other parts of the country.
