[JURIST] The president of the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] said Monday that ICC rules prevent the court from asserting any jurisdiction over claims against Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive]. Judge Philippe Kirsch [official profile], a Canadian, noted that the new world criminal tribunal at The Hague is only authorized to hear claims arising from incidents occuring after July 1st, 2002; so far Saddam has been charged [JURIST report] only in connection with the 1982 killing of 143 Shiites in the Iraqi village of Dujail. On Monday, Saddam's lawyers repeated [Reuters report] an earlier call [JURIST report] to have Hussein's trial venue moved to a location outside of Iraq, saying that they are risking their lives by remaining in the country, especially after a defense lawyers for one of the former Iraqi dictator's co-defendants was murdered [JURIST report] last month. The defense team has threatened not to cooperate [JURIST report] with the Iraqi Special Tribunal [official website] trying Hussein until security is strengthened as promised by the Iraqi government [JURIST report], or the trial is moved out of the country. AP has more.