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"Chemical Ali" among latest Saddam aides
questioned
19.6.2005
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BAGHDAD, June 19 (Reuters) - Ali Hassan al-Majid,
known as "Chemical Ali", was among eight allies of
his cousin Saddam Hussein to be questioned by the
Iraqi tribunal preparing trials of the leaders of
the old regime, officials said on Sunday.
The Iraqi government, facing fresh elections by the
year's end, is keen to put Saddam on trial soon but
Tribunal officials say the process cannot be rushed
and no date is set.
Majid, who acquired his nickname after Iraqi forces
dropped poison gas on Kurdish villagers in 1988, was
questioned on Thursday about suppressing religious
political parties and about the killings and
detentions of the Fayli Kurds, a Shi'ite Muslim
minority among the mostly Sunni Kurds.
Also questioned on the same accusations was Taha
Yassin Ramadan, Saddam's former vice-president, the
Tribunal said in a statement. So too was Saadoun
Shaker, interior minister in the early years of
Saddam's rule, who was also asked about the killing
of Shi'ite villagers from Dujail in 1982.
This incident may be key to an early trial of
Saddam, who was questioned about it himself a week
ago. Though minor compared to the genocide and
crimes against humanity with which the former
president may be charged, government officials say
it may be easier to prove Saddam's personal
responsibility for it.
Dozens of Shi'ite men -- maybe more than 140 -- were
executed after an attempt to assassinate Saddam as
his motorcade drove through their village, north of
Baghdad, in July 1982.
Abid Hamid Mahmud, Saddam's secretary, who ranked
fourth in a U.S. list of the 55 most wanted figures
after the fall of the old regime, was questioned
about the suppression of religious parties -- a
reference to parties representing the Shi'ite
majority which were forced underground by the 1980s.
Two other, less-well-known defendants were
questioned on the "events of 1991", an apparent
reference to the suppression of Shi'ite and Kurdish
uprisings in the wake of the Gulf War.
A further two were questioned about oppressing
political parties, one with reference to religious
parties, the other secular parties. Saddam's Sunni
Arab-dominated Baath party eliminated all opposition
including the Shi'ite Dawa Party and the Iraqi
Communist Party. Many of their leaders were killed.
Reuters
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