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'Chemical Ali' defiant as Iraq genocide
trial resumes
23.1.2007 |
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BAGHDAD, January
23,-- Saddam Hussein's cousin "Chemical Ali" has
defied Iraqi court officials by refusing to make a
statement at the genocide trial in Baghdad of six
former regime officials.
The tribunal resumed after a 12-day break, with
chief judge Mohammed al-Oreibi al-Khalifah asking
the six defendants to make statements Tuesday before
prosecutors presented additional documentary
evidence against the accused.
"I have no testimony to present to the court unless
I am given the chance to see my lawyer," said Ali
Hassan al-Majid, also known as "Chemical Ali".
Another of the accused, former military intelligence
chief Sabir al-Duri, followed Majid's lead and also
refused to make a
statement.
The judge then switched off microphones in the court
amid heated discussions with the two defendants.
Court hears Saddam cousin insult current Iraq
president 'Jalal Talabani'
In an audio tape presented on Tuesday at his trial
for genocide against ethnic Kurds in the 1980s,
Saddam Hussein's cousin called former Kurdish rebel
leader Jalal Talabani, now Iraq's president, "wicked
and a pimp".
In the tape, Ali Hassan al-Majeed, known as Chemical
Ali for his alleged used of chemical weapons during
a military campaign in northern Iraqi in 1988, could
be heard mocking Talabani.
Majeed said Talabani, head of the Patriotic Union of
Kurdistan (PUK) that had allied with Saddam's
Iranian foes, had asked for a truce and expressed a
willingness to turn against Iran if the military
stopped deporting Kurds from villages.
"My reply is that there is no truce, no negotiations
and no stopping of the deportations," he told his
anonymous listeners in the tape.
Then, using a common insult in Iraq, he called
Talabani "wicked and a pimp because he wanted a
truce ... in order to depict himself as a saviour of
the Kurds".
Majeed told the court he used strong language only
for effect, in order to avert further military
confrontation. |
Chemical Ali (First from the top) . A first cousin
of Saddam and former defence minister, he is charged
with genocide in the trial. The other five
co-accused have been charged with war crimes and
crimes against humanity. |
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Partly driven by rivalry with the other main Kurdish
faction, Talabani engaged in negotiations with
Saddam in the mid-1980s, seeking guarantees of
autonomy in exchange for a truce. These talks came
to nothing.
Talabani's PUK is now part of the Shi'ite-led
government that last month executed Saddam in a
hanging that outraged the former Iraqi leader's
fellow minority Sunni Arabs.
Majeed, on trial with five other former senior Baath
party officials for their roles in the 1988 Anfal
(Spoils of War) campaign, has already said he
ordered troops to execute all Kurds who ignored
troops' orders to leave their villages.
"I will leave no Kurd who speaks the Kurdish
language," Majeed said in the audio played on
Tuesday.
Majid and five other top officials of the former
regime are being tried for genocide, war crimes and
crimes against humanity over the deaths of 182,000
Kurds during the 1988 Anfal campaign.
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.
Saddam, the other key defendent in the genocide
trial, was hanged on December 30 for crimes against
humanity following a separate trial for the killing
of 148 Shiite villagers in the 1980s.
After his execution, the Iraqi High Tribunal dropped
all outstanding charges against Saddam, who like
Majid was also accused of genocide in the Anfal
trial.
Since Saddam's hanging, Majid, a former head of
Iraq's northern command who owes his nickname to
charges that he gassed thousands of Kurdish
civilians, has taken centre stage in the genocide
hearings.
During the last session on January 11, he admitted
ordering troops to execute Kurdish villagers who
refused to leave their homes during the military
campaign against the northern Kurdish region.
"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," Majid told
the court.
"I'm responsible for the displacement and I took
this decision alone, without going back to the high
military command or Baath party commander. I say
that before your court and before God," he added.
AFP | Reuters
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