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BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Iraqi judges interrogated
the notorious general known as "Chemical Ali" and
Saddam's former defense minister Saturday, opening
the first phase in trials for the ousted dictator's
top deputies. Insurgents, meanwhile, attacked
election offices and wounded four American
contractors with a roadside bomb.
Ali Hassan al-Majid -- who earned his nickname for
his alleged use of chemical weapons against Kurds
and others -- appeared haggard in a video released
after the interrogation, from which the press was
barred. He leaned on a walking stick before sitting
in front of a judge behind a desk.
Sultan Hashim Ahmad, Saddam's last defense chief,
straed blankly at the ground as police officers
stood to either side of him holding his arms.
The two were the the first to go before an
investigative hearing from among the 11 jailed top
figures who, along with Saddam, are facing trial for
crimes during the regime's three decades in power.
Both were questioned by a panel of investigative
judges in a hearing attended by their lawyers, said
Raad al-Juhyi, the head of the panel.
The videos were the first images of the men since
they were initially arraigned in July along with
Saddam and the other detainees. Both wore
gray-colored suits and white shirts without ties and
arrived at the tribunal flanked by blue uniformed
police.
Al-Juhyi said the defendants will face questioning
over Saddam's Anfal campaign, a depopulation scheme
that killed and expelled hundreds of thousands of
Kurds from northern Iraq, including the 1988 Halabja
chemical weapons attacks that al-Majid has been
accused of ordering.
The judges will also investigate the role of the
detainees in the bloody quelling of a 1991 Shiite
uprising following the U.S.-led Gulf War to force
occupying Iraqi forces out of neighboring Kuwait,
plus the illegal imprisonment and executions of
political opponents.
"We should make a distinction between the trial and
the investigation," al-Juhyi said. "We are talking
about the investigation. We're in the investigation
phase."
The judge said there would be no rush in concluding
the hearing and trial process against Saddam and his
senior aides. Hastiness is the plague of trials,"
al-Juhyi said.
Iraqi deputy prime minister, Barham Saleh, told Al-Arabiya
TV that Ahmad was being quizzed primarily to assist
in tribunal proceedings against al-Majid.
"The former defense minister is being interrogated
within the framework of focusing on the case of Ali
Hassan al-Majid, who is accused of many crimes
against the Iraqi people," Saleh said, adding that
any future criminal trial would be public and "maybe
open to journalists."
Interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said
Tuesday that detained leaders of Saddam's toppled
regime would start appearing before court in the
coming week -- pressing ahead with the trials ahead
of crucial national elections set for Jan. 30.
Many Iraqis -- particularly among the Shiite
majority -- have been eager to see the prosecution
of the ousted regime begin. The trials and elections
come amid persistent violence by insurgents,
including suspected former Saddam followers, that
has raised concern over the success of the vote.
Mortars fired by insurgents landed near a center for
Iraqis to register to vote in the town of Dujail, 50
miles north of the capital, on Saturday, killing one
civilian and wounding eight others, said Master Sgt.
Robert Powell, of the Tikrit-based U.S. 1st Infantry
Division.
Gunmen opened fire in another election center in
Riyadh, a town southwest of the northern city of
Kirkuk, on Friday evening, Kirkuk police said.
Iraq's insurgency appears to be consolidating in
northern Iraq following intensive U.S.-led military
operations in central and western Iraq aimed at
uprooting militants, comprising mainly Islamic
extremists and loyalists of the deposed dictator,
Saddam Hussein loyalists.
Gunmen killed two men, apparently Iraqis, in
execution-style slayings in the northern town of
Beiji, police Capt. Hakim Ali said Saturday. The
men's bodies were found, one with his hands tied
behind his back.
Also near Beiji, a roadside bomb exploded, wounding
four American contractors employed by Florida-based
Cochise Security Inc to dispose of Saddam-era
munitions in the area. Two of the wounded were
hospitalized. Three Cochise employees were killed in
two separate April attacks in Beiji, 155 miles north
of Baghdad.
Ahmad, the forner defense chief, surrendered to U.S.
forces in September 2003 at a coalition military
base in Mosul, but was not considered to be a war
crimes suspect and many had expected that he would
be freed after being questioned.
Officials have not said when Saddam will appear
before the investigative panel for questioning.
Allawi said the defendants could be arraigned in
January -- just ahead of the elections.
Putting former Baath regime leaders on trial is seen
as a crucial step in Iraq's post-Saddam
reconstruction, but human rights groups and lawyers
for the defendants have raised concerns over the
access of legal representatives to the detainees.
Meanwhile, an Iraqi militant group calling itself
the "Jihad Brigades" claimed responsibility in a
video posted on a Web site Saturday for the slaying
of two American contractors on Dec. 8. Joseph Wemple,
a builder from Orlando, Fla., and his boss, Dale
Stoffel, vice president for international
development for CLI USA, died in the ambush outside
Baghdad. CLI USA is a Pennsylvania-based
engineering-construction contractor.
"A group of Jihad Brigades' fighters set a trap on
the Taji Camp road for members of the Pentagon and
the American intelligence agency, the CIA, and those
who had close ties with the American President
Bush," a masked man said, sitting at a table and
reading from a statement. A masked, armed man stood
behind him.
"Their vehicles were attacked, and we confiscated
all their weapons and possessions, including Iraqi
antiquities and classified documents," the masked
man said. The video showed images of passports and
other documents in the two men's names. The claim
could not be verified.
AP
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