Iraq Kurds genocide verdict against 'Chemical Ali' due Sunday  23.6.2007

Majid is the only individual besides Saddam to be charged with genocide over the so-called Anfal campaign against the Kurds in the late 1980s. Saddam, ousted from power by US-led invasion forces in April 2003, was executed on December 30 for crimes against humanity in a separate case.

All six former regime officials are accused of masterminding the slaughter of 182,000 Kurdish villagers during the Anfal campaign in Iraq's northern Kurdistan region in 1988, when the Iran-Iraq war was at its peak.

Prosecutors have demanded the death penalty for five of the accused, but have asked the court to free Ani for lack of evidence.

Chief prosecutor Munquith al-Faroon has also personally requested a more lenient sentence for Duri.

Majid was allegedly responsible for the widespread use of chemical gas on the Kurds during the campaign, when Saddam's armed forces bombed and gassed tens of thousands of Kurdish villagers.

Over the course of the trial, which opened on August 21 last year, a defiant Majid has said he was right to order the attacks.

"I am the one who gave orders to the army to demolish villages and relocate the villagers," he said at one hearing. "The army was responsible to carry out those orders. I gave the army instructions."

In a sometimes belligerent tone, Majid said he was not defending his actions. "I am not defending myself. I am not apologising. I did not make a mistake," he told chief judge Mohammed al-Oreibi al-Khalifah.

Since the execution of Saddam, Majid has emerged as the star defendant in the trial and occupies the front seat in the dock previously occupied by the former dictator.

Human Rights Watch expressed concern on Friday that the verdicts in the Anfal trial could be flawed as it charged they were in the previous trial of Saddam over the killing of Shiites from the village of Dujail in the 1980s.

The analysis of the Dujail trial "shows serious flaws in the application of basic international criminal law principles," said Richard Dicker, who heads the watchdog's International Justice Programme.

"This raises concerns such errors will be repeated in the Anfal judgment and it therefore won't withstand scrutiny or the test of time."

The New York-based group said the Anfal trial has also been "marred by procedural flaws including political interference such as removal of the presiding judge... after the judge made remarks perceived as favourable to the defence."

The initial presiding judge, Abdallah al-Ameri, was removed by the government a few weeks after the start of the trial and replaced by Khalifah.

In addition, Human Rights Watch "raised concerns about vague charges which made it difficult for the defendants to prepare their case and the inability of the defence to call witnesses who feared for their security."

AFP 

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