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The capture of Saddam Hussein on December 14, 2003, has promoted wide-ranging debates about where and how he should be tried. On December 10, 2003, just a few days prior to the capture of Saddam Hussein by US armed forces, the Iraqi Governing Council adopted a statute for an Iraqi Special Tribunal (IST).
Some commentators have raised concerns about whether the Iraqi Governing Council, whose members had been appointed by the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) may lawfully create such a court. Their concerns apparently derive from provisions of the Geneva Convention (No. IV) relative to the protection of civilian persons in time of war 1949 that restricting permissible changes to the penal law of occupied territories by occupying powers. Nevertheless, the establishment of the IST could have been warranted under the Law of Occupation.
On the other hand, the IST was formally approved by Iraqi government after June 30, 2004 .Although many international lawyers support the creation of a hybrid court for Iraq, because this idea can resolve the issues of legality of the IST