The chief prosecutor at the court trying ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein for crimes against humanity said on Sunday that the verdict, due in seven days, could be delayed again by up to two weeks.
Two weeks ago the Iraqi High Tribunal delayed the judgement in the trial of Saddam and seven co-defendants for ordering the deaths of 148 Shia villagers from the village of Dujail until at least November 5.
But chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Mussawi told AFP: "There are checks which still have to be completed. "If the judicial body overseeing these checks has not finished by November 5, I expect the court to delay its next hearing by one or two weeks before announcing the verdict," he added.
US officials close to the court have said the Iraqi panel of judges is working carefully on a lengthy judgement against Saddam designed to withstand both an expected appeal and the scrutiny of international legal experts.
The 69-year-old former leader and his seven co-defendants are on trial for allegedly ordering the destruction of Dujail, a Shia community 60 kilometres (35 miles) north of Baghdad, in revenge for a 1982 attempt on Saddam's life.
Saddam and two of his alleged henchman -- his half brother and intelligence chief Barzan al-Tikriti and his former vice president Taha Yassin Ramadan -- face the death penalty if convicted.
Hearings were held between October 19 and July 26 in the court, part of a fortified building in Baghdad's well-protected Green Zone.
The Dujail trial is separate from a second case, dubbed the Anfal trial, in which Saddam and give different co-defendants are facing genocide and war crimes charges relating to a 1988 campaign against Iraq's Kurdish minority.
Hearings in the Anfal case are due to resume on Monday.