November 19, 2007
SULAIMANIYAH, Kurdistan region 'Iraq', -- Kurdish
victims of the Anfal campaign bayed for blood on
Sunday as Iraq indicated the hanging of "Chemical
Ali", one of the masterminds of the slaughter, may
be delayed indefinitely.
Anger was directed not only at the Iraqi government
but at Kurdish President Jalal Talabani, who is
refusing to sign the execution order of three
cohorts of Saddam Hussein sentenced to death for the
killing of thousands of ethnic Kurds in the so
-called Anfal (Spoils) campaign of 1988.
Ali Hassan al-Majid, widely known as "Chemical Ali"
for his use of poisonous gas against Kurds; Sultan
Hashim al-Tai, Saddam's defence minister; and
Hussein Rashid al-Tikriti, his armed forces deputy
chief of operations, were sentenced to death on June
24.
Under Iraqi law they were supposed to have been
executed by October 4, 30 days after their sentences
were upheld by the Iraq Supreme Court.
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Ali Hassan al-Majid, first cousin of executed
dictator Saddam Hussein and also known as 'Chemical
Ali', 'Butcher of Kurdistan' sentenced to death over Kurdish genocide, AP |
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But because two members of the presidential council
-- Talabani, a Kurd, and Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi,
a Sunni -- have refused to sign the execution
orders, the sentences have yet to be carried out.
"The three should be executed immediately to avoid
calling into doubt the credibility of Iraqi
judiciary," said Muhsin Rasheed, 35, who lost more
than 25 members of his family in the Anfal killings.
He said 15 Kurdish civil organisations had sent
letters to Talabani urging him "to take a decisive
stance against the delay in performing the
executions."
Talibani's declarations that the sentence of Sultan
Hashim should be commuted amounted to "trespassing
on the rights of Anfal's victims," added Rasheed,
who heads a committee defending the rights of
victims. www.ekurd.net
The United States, which is holding Chemical Ali and
the two other convicts, has said it will not hand
them over for execution until the legal row is
settled.
Talabani, who is opposed on principle to the death
penalty, has repeatedly come out in defence of
Sultan Hashim.
"This man does not deserve execution," he said last
month. "He was a capable and excellent officer who
implemented Saddam Hussein's strict orders. He could
not disobey orders."
Vice President Hashemi fears that the execution of
Sultan Hashim could undermine already stuttering
reconciliation efforts in post-Saddam Iraq.
The vice president, too, argues that Sultan Hashim,
a career military man, had little choice but to
follow orders from Saddam.
Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told reporters
Saturday that the issue was in the hands of the High
Court, whose decision would be binding.
The court, he said, had to decide whether the
approval of the presidential council is needed, and
if so, what is the legal situation if this is not
granted.
"The constitution is silent on this," he said,
adding that the matter had been complicated further
because the 30-day period in which the men were to
have been hanged had come and gone.
Asked whether the matter could be resolved soon, he
replied, "The time frame has passed. Time is no
longer important."
Abdul Rahman Faris, 50, who lost his wife, son and
sister in Kifriyah, 50 kilometres (30 miles) south
of Sulaimaniyah, and who has been waiting 19 years
to see justice done, has run out of patience.
"The executions (of Kurds) were carried out swiftly,
but we now hear talk of pardons for those convicted
in the Anfal killings," he said.
"If Kurdish leaders back pardons, we will not deal
with them and will consider them to be just like the
Baathists," he added, referring to members of
Saddam's Baath party.
Ali Mahmoud, 44, in charge of a humanitarian
organisation which monitors issues related to the
Anfal slaughter, criticised the "unjustifiable
political interference." www.ekurd.net
"We are planning to raise our voices in protest at
the delay in carrying out the death penalty,"
Mahmoud told AFP.
Shazad Hussein, the head of the Anfal Women's
Organisation in Razgari, 145 kilometres (90 miles)
south of Sulaimaniyah, was also angry.
"We demand the death sentence be carried out without
any delay," she said.
AFP
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