By Kirk Semple / The New York - November 9, 2006

BAGHDAD: Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq predicted in a televised interview that former President Saddam Hussein would be hanged by the end of the year.

Court officials said, however, that the prime minister's prediction on Wednesday was unrealistic, considering the timing of the appeals process and the sheer volume of evidence that the appellate judges would have to review. It was far more likely, they said, that the hanging would not take place until January at the earliest, and probably later.

Under Iraqi law, a nine-judge appellate court will begin its review of the death sentences against Saddam and two of his co-defendants 30 days from Sunday, when the sentences were handed down. If the appellate judges uphold the rulings, the executions must be carried out within 30 days.

The appellate judges are not bound by a deadline for their deliberations, but Maliki and other Shiite leaders have made no secret of their desire to see Saddam executed as soon as possible.

They say that Saddam's survival could help to rally the Sunni Arab-led insurgency that has been trying to drive American forces out of the country and topple the Shiite-dominated government. He periodically issues written messages from his cell at an American military detention center here exhorting insurgents to continue their resistance.

Saddam was found guilty of crimes against humanity for the persecution of the townspeople of Dujail, north of Baghdad, after what was said to be an assassination attempt against him there in 1982. A total of 148 men and youths were killed, and hundreds of others were banished for years to a remote desert camp in southern Iraq.

American and Iraqi officials had originally planned to prosecute Saddam in a series of trials that, they said, would describe his long rule of terror.

According to Iraqi court officials, nothing in Iraqi law would prevent Saddam from being executed before the another trial ends.

In an interview televised by the BBC on Wednesday, Maliki said, "I think the court is determined to pursue this case that they are looking at, but we will not interfere." When asked to specify when he expected Saddam to be executed, Maliki said, "I expect it to happen before the end of the year."

The constitution mandates that President Jalal Talabani and his two vice presidents approve the execution. But Maliki raised the possibility during the interview that because the decision was rendered by a special tribunal, it might not be subject to that constitutional provision. Saddam was tried before the Iraqi High Tribunal, the court set up to prosecute the top officials of the ousted government.

Talabani, a Kurd, has said publicly that he is opposed to the death penalty, suggesting that he would not approve the execution. But according to court officials, the president has said he is prepared to designate Adel Abdul- Mahdi, one of his vice presidents and a Shiite, as his proxy in the vote.

John F. Burns contributed reporting.