|
Don't hang Chemical Ali in Kurdistan,
Kurdish minister says
18.7.2007
|
|
|
|
July 18, 2007
Erbil-Hewler, Kurdistan region (Iraq), -- A
minister in Iraq's Kurdistan regional government
says she wants the execution of a cousin and former
top aide of Saddam Hussein sentenced to death in
connection with massacres of Kurdish civilians in
the late 1980s to take place outside Kurdistan
region.
Chinar Saad Abdallah, who heads the ministry for the
victims of Anfal - the anti-Kurdish campaign led by
Saddam's regime between 1986 and 1989 - said Ali
Hasan al-Majid should not be hanged in Kurdistan,
the autonomous region in northern Iraq.
"We have to let the world know that we are people
who want peace and peaceful coexistence, not
killings and bloodshed", Abdallah was quoted as
saying by the Kurdish online news site, Bayanmir.
Al-Majid headed the Anfal campaign which included
the use of ground offensives, aerial bombings, mass
deportations, firing squads, and chemical warfare -
the latter earning him the nickname of "Chemical
Ali".
"We agree with the imposition of the death penalty
for criminals, including Chemical Ali, but we want
this to take place outside the borders of
Kurdistan", she said.
Abdallah's view is shared by a group representing
victims of a 1988 chemical attack on the town of
Halabja which was destroyed during the Anfal.
"The reconstruction of Halabja is more important
that the execution of Chemical Ali who would be glad
to see the state of desolation and neglect the town
now lies ", the League for the Victims of Halabja
said in a statement.
In the past week many citizens of Halabja, called
for Chemical Ali to be executed in their town.
Ali Hassan al-Majid is a cousin of executed dictator
Saddam Hussein and is widely known as "Chemical Ali"
because of his use of poison gas against Kurdish
communities during a 1988 campaign against
separatists. |
Chinar Saad Abdallah,
The Minister for Martyrs and Victims of the Anfal
campaign in the Kurdistan regional government
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 |
|
He was sentenced to death by hanging for genocide,
war crimes and crimes against humanity,
on June 24
by an Iraqi court. Two other aides of Saddam were
also sentenced to death along with Majid.
A nine-member appeals
panel is currently reviewing their sentences and is
expected to make it ruling in the near future.
If the appeals chamber certifies the court's
sentences, the three will be hanged within 30 days
as per Iraqi law.
The brutal Anfal campaign of 1988 saw bombings, mass
deportation and gas attacks in which an estimated
182,000 Kurds were killed and 4,000 villages wiped
out.
adnki com
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the content of news
information on this page
|
® 