|
"Chemical Ali" says ordered Kurd villages
cleared
11.1.2007
|
|
|
|
'Chemical Ali' moves into Saddam's hot seat in Iraq
trial
BAGHDAD, January 11,-- Saddam Hussein's
cousin "Chemical Ali" has moved centre stage in
Iraq's genocide trial, sliding into the hot seat
left vacant by the former dictator who was executed
last month.
Chemical Ali and his five co-defendants, who face
the death penalty if found guilty of slaughtering
182,000 Kurdish villagers in the 1980s, were all
present as the court convened for the second time
since Saddam's hanging.
"Yes, I gave my instructions to consider these
villages as prohibited areas and I gave orders to
the troops to catch anyone they find there and
execute them after investigating them," Hassan al-Majeed,
known as "Chemical Ali" said.
|
Ali Hassan Majeed, "Chemical Ali" Saddam
Hussein's cousin |
|
"I'm responsible for the displacing and I took this
decision on my own, without going back to the High
Military Command or the Baath Party commander. I say
that before your court and before God," he told the
court.
Majeed and five former senior Baath party official
are being tried for their roles in the 1988 Anfal
(Spoil of War) military campaign in which
prosecutors say up to 180,000 people were killed,
many of them gassed.
Defendants had previously refused to occupy Saddam's
former seat at the front of the dock, but on
Thursday his cousin and defence minister Ali Hassan
al-Majid, dubbed Chemical Ali for allegedly gassing
Kurds, took it up.
The defendants arrived after the court readjusted
the seats, lining them up in three rows with Majid
and Hussein Rashid al-Tikriti, former deputy chief
of operations in the armed forces, in the front row.
Prosecutors said they would present video tape
evidence which they said proved the guilt of the
defendants in massacring Kurds.
On Monday, the Iraqi High Tribunal in Baghdad
dropped its charges against Saddam after he went to
the gallows on December 30, executed for crimes
against humanity for killing 148 Shiite villagers in
1982.
The case centres on the killing of 182,000 Kurdish
villagers during the so-called Anfal campaign
between 1987 and 1988.
All six remaining defendants have been charged with
war crimes and crimes against humanity, which
carries the ultimate penalty of death, and
meticulously carrying out military attacks against
the Kurds, some using chemical weapons.
The accused say the campaign was a vital
counter-insurgency operation against Kurdish
guerrillas who sided with the enemy during Iraq's
devastating 1980-88 war with Iran.
Reuters | AFP
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the content of news
information on this page
|
® 