BAGHDAD, Sept 4 (AFP)
- 15h56 - Iraqi Shiites and Kurds, so long oppressed
under Saddam Hussein's dictatorship, on Sunday
greeted news of a date for his trial with sighs of
relief and impatient wishes to see swift
retribution.
Although Saddam will go on trial on October 19
simply for 1982 killing of 143 residents in the
Shiite village of Dujail, his Kurdish and Shiite
foes will be seeking vengeance for a series of even
graver crimes against their peoples.
"I was always in favour of a rapid verdict on Saddam
Hussein. The sooner the better," said Shiite MP
Montassar al-Amara, adding that he was "very
satisfied" with the announcement. |
Former dictator
Saddam Hussein
Photo : AP
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"We were
so frustrated seeing him staying in prison for
ever."
The list of crimes committed by his Sunni-dominated
regime against the Shiites and Kurds is long and
still a source of pain that for many only the
harshest retribution can assuage.
Shiites, who form a 60-percent majority in Iraq,
cannot forget the regime's brutal suppression of
their uprising in the aftermath of Iraq's ouster
from Kuwait in the 1991 Gulf War.
For the Kurds there is the gassing of 5,000 people
in the village of Halabja in 1988 as part of the
massive "Anfal" (spoils) offensive against the Kurds
in northern Iraq which left some 180,000 people
dead.
Amara said that he just wanted to see Saddam found
guilty, irrespective of the charges. It is of little
consequence whether Saddam is judged "for one or all
the crimes he committed against the Iraqi people,"
he said.
However, Kurdish lawmaker Nawzat Saleh disagreed.
"We would have preferred him to answer for all the
crimes he committed against the Iraqi people."
Ultimately, the Dujail massacre may not prove to be
the only case against Saddam to reach court.
The head judge at the Iraqi Special Tribunal charged
with trying Saddam, Raed Jouhi, has been to northern
Iraqi Kurdistan to inspect the work of officials
there who are attempting to gather proof of his
crimes in the region.
Meanwhile one of the few Sunni deputies in
parliament, Abdel Rahman al-Nuami, complained that
there was both "external and internal pressure" on
the court to complete its work at speed.
The tribunal was set up by the United States but the
court protests its independence against claims that
it is merely an instrument charged with finding
Saddam guilty and condemning him in as short a time
as possible.
It also remains to be seen whether Kurds and Shiites
will see Saddam handed the death penalty if found
guilty.
Rights groups and foreign nations have lobbied for a
moratorium on the death penalty in postwar Iraq
while President Jalal Talabani, himself a Kurd, is
also fiercely opposed to capital punishment.
AFP
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