BAGHDAD, October 17, -- At least 30 people died
every day in Saddam Hussein's grim prisons, a
Kurdish witness said Tuesday as the stormy trial
resumed of the ousted Iraqi president and six others
on genocide charges.
Mutalib Mohammed Salman, a 78-year-old man in
traditional Kurdish headdress, told the court how he
and his fellow villagers were rounded up during the
1988 'Anfal' campaign and shipped off to a desert
prison in southern Iraq.
"One day I counted 20 dead bodies as I went over to
see two of my relatives in the prison after I heard
that they were sick," he told the court in Kurdish.
"When I reached them, I found them dead."
Salman said at least 30 prisoners were dying each
day because of a lack of water and food on top of
deteriorating health conditions and regular beatings
by Arab guards. "They were giving just two pieces of
bread for each," he said.
The defendants listened quietly to the testimony, in
contrast to often rowdy behavior that has seen
Saddam ejected nearly every court session. At one
point last week, a defendant struck a bailiff before
being bodily thrown out. |
Former dictator Saddam Hussein (R), Ali Hassan Al-Majeed
known as "Chemical Ali" (L)
Photo : AFP |
|
One of the biggest points of contention between the
defendants and the court may finally have been
resolved, however, when the judge began the trial by
agreeing to a request from a defendant to allow the
return of their legal team.
For the past month, the defense team has boycotted
the trial in protest at alleged interference by the
Iraqi government, and Judge Mohammed al-Oreibi al-Khalifah
has assigned seven court-appointed lawyers to
conduct the defence.
"Your honor we talked to our lawyers and they want
to attend," said former defence minister Sultan
Hashim al-Tai, who sits next to Saddam in the dock.
"It is in our benefit for them to attend."
After the judge agreed to the request -- likely to
take effect later in the week -- testimony resumed
on atrocities allegedly committed in the Anfal
campaign which prosecutors say killed 182,000 Kurds
in death camps, bombings and gas attacks.
Salman ended his testimony with a plaintive call
familiar to the ears of court observers: "I demand
Saddam to tell me about the fate of my relatives,
the 33 of my relatives who were 'Anfalized'," he
said.
The former Iraqi president and his co-defendants
insist the operation was a legitimate military
campaign against separatist guerrillas and fighters
who sided with Iran, with which Iraq was at war
during the 1980s.
Events outside the courtroom in recent days,
meanwhile, have rivalled the unfolding drama within
its walls.
On Monday, the brother of chief prosecutor Munqith
al-Faroon was murdered in front of his wife while
returning to pick up some possessions from the west
Baghdad home they had abandoned amid the sectarian
strife rocking the capital.
Saddam himself, who protested in the last session
about the judge's tendency to cut off his microphone
whenever he starts discussing political matters,
made himself heard in a letter transmitted by his
lawyer Monday.
The former dictator weighed in on the brutal
sectarian struggle convulsing much of the nation and
called on Iraqis to focus on the true enemy.
"Do not forget that your goal is to liberate your
country from the invaders and their followers and is
not a settling of accounts outside this goal," he
said.
Saddam and his cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid, a former
military commander who became notorious for
anti-Kurd gas attacks as "Chemical Ali," are accused
of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The five others are charged with war crimes and
crimes against humanity, and all seven accused face
the death penalty if convicted.
The Iraqi High Tribunal itself has finally set a
November 5 date for the verdict in Saddam's earlier
trial for crimes against humanity in the devastation
of the Shiite village of Dujail and more than 140
killings in the 1980s.
AFP
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