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SULAIMANIYAH, IraqSoiba
Muhammed lost two daughters, three sons and a
husband when the Baathist government dropped
chemical bombs on the Iraqi Kurdistan city of
Halabja 16 years ago. She was blinded by the attack.
"We don't need to have witnesses at Ali Hassan
Majeed's trial," she said.
"The whole world bore witness to his crimes. The
sooner he is dealt with, the better."
Majeed, a former Iraqi general and the cousin of
former President Saddam Hussein, will be among the
first to stand trial for crimes committed under the
Baathist rule.
Among the most serious accusations he is likely to
face when he appears before an Iraqi tribunal,
probably sometime next month, is his involvement in
the use of chemical weapons during an attack on the
Kurdish city of Halabja in March 1988.
Mu'min Hama-Arif, who lost 24 members of his family
in the attack, said seeing the man known as
"Chemical Ali" go on trial will be a dream come
true.
"I'm just afraid he won't be executed because people
start talking about human rights," he said. "What
does that man know about human rights?"
While some of the survivors of the 1988 attack said
they would prefer Majeed not be executed, none of
them are talking about forgiveness.
Eight members of Maliha Ali Faraj's family were
killed in the attack.
"I hope he rots away in jail and gets eaten by
worms," he said.
Chia Hama-Saeed, who works at Halabja's Martyrs
Hospital, and her brother were half-blinded by the
poison gas attack. Their mother died of cancer they
say was caused by the chemical attack.
"Chemical Ali should be kept in a jail where he can
see the graveyard and the destroyed streets of our
town," she said. "He and Saddam Hussein should not
be killed; they should be made to die a little every
day."
Asaeesh Khalid said she had planned to study law at
the University of Baghdad but was forced to give up
her dreams because her parents were too ill to care
for themselves after the attack.
"My mother suffers from several diseases, and my
father was blinded," she said. "What could be more
fitting for me than to see the person who hurt my
family prosecuted before my very eyes?"
The imam of Halabja's Abu Bakri Siddiq Mosque, Ahmed
Muhammed, said he believes Majeed should feel the
full force of Islamic law, which preaches an eye for
an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
"He treated people violently and should suffer
accordingly," he said. "He should be made to
confront his crimes before the whole world."
Haseeba Muhamed, who lost 12 members of her family
and suffers from eye, throat and chest diseases,
agrees.
"The only fitting punishment would be to hand him
over to me to cut out a piece of his flesh every
day," she said.
Most survivors are adamant that the trial take place
in Halabja itself rather than Baghdad.
"[Majeed] needs to be prosecuted before the eyes of
the people of Halabja," said Salar Mahmood, a member
of the National Guard.
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