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Iraqi court grills Saddam aides about
crimes against Kurds
27.6.2005
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BAGHDAD, June 26 (AFP) - 18h42 - The Iraqi court
charged with trying ousted leader Saddam Hussein on
Sunday released footage of six of his lieutenants
being interrogated about alleged crimes against
Kurds.
The moved comes four days after Prime Minister
Ibrahim Jaafari blamed judges on the court for the
delay in trying Saddam, who has been in US custody
since December 2003.
Earlier this month, the tribunal released similar
footage of Saddam himself and more than a dozen of
his top aides being interrogated by the Iraqi
Special Tribunal over alleged crimes against
humanity.
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Former dictator
Saddam Hussein
Photo : AP |
Among
those questioned last Monday were two of Saddam's
half-brothers Barzan and Watban Ibrahim Hassan al-Tikriti
as well as the commander of the former paramilitary
Quds Army, Iyad Futaih Khalifa, a statement from the
Iraqi Special Tribunal said.
The Tikritis were questioned individually about the
alleged killing and deportation of Faili Kurds, who
follow the Shiite sect of Islam, according to the
statement which accompanied the voice-less footage.
Khalifa and two former Baath party senior leaders --
Mohammed Zumam Abdelrazaq and Latif Nasif Jasim --
were questioned separately about "ethnic cleansing
operations in Kirkuk," the statement added.
Khalifa and Mohsen Khodr Abbas, another senior
Baathist, were also questioned separately about the
"events of 1991," the statement said, referring to
Saddam's brutal repression of a Shiite uprising
during the first Gulf war.
The demographic make-up of the oil-rich northern
city of Kirkuk was altered by Saddam's policy of
settling Sunni Arabs there in the 1980s in place of
Kurds and other minorities.
Saddam and his deputies are also accused of mass
murder crimes against Kurds like the gassing of
almost 5,000 villagers in Halabja in 1988.
The tribunal said the questioning of the six took
place in the presence of the investigating judges,
prosecutors and the defense lawyer.
"We ask the sons of the oppressed Iraqi nation of
all ethnicities and sects to support the tribunal
and to give it their vote of confidence in order to
defeat those who are trying to undermine its work,"
said the tribunal.
"We also ask everyone to refer to the statements of
the court as the only official source and everything
else as just guessing."
The tribunal, which was formed under the previous
US-led occupation, has already released several
videotapes of the questioning of Saddam and more
than a dozen of his deputies since the start of
June.
Many critics and legal experts have questioned the
independence and qualification of the tribunal to
try Saddam and the other former regime elements.
They say the video releases were aimed at appeasing
many members Jaafari's Shiite-dominated government
who have complained about the delay in trying
Saddam.
Saddam's half-brother Barzan, his former vice
president Taha Yasin Ramadan and three others were
referred to trial at the end of February for the
1982 killing of 143 residents of Dujail, a village
northeast of Baghdad.
In the latest footage, Barzan wearing a light-blue
jumpsuit, appeared anxious, unshaven and disheveled.
His brother Watban also appeared unshaven in a
light-blue jumpsuit.
All six were seen signing and dating statements
handed to them by the judge.
AFP
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