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Iraq sets date for third trial against
former regime officials
13.8.2007
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August 13, 2007
BAGHDAD, -- The Iraqi High Tribunal is this
month set to open a third trial into alleged crimes
committed under Saddam Hussein, this time over the
suppression of a Shiite uprising, a US official said
Monday.
The trial is scheduled to open on August 21, Armand
Cucciniello, a spokesman at the US embassy, said.
Fifteen defendants will go on trial, including Ali
Hassan al-Majid, who is widely known as Chemical Ali
and sentenced to death two months ago for his role
in the slaughter of ethnic Kurds, Cucciniello said.
Chemical Ali has be sentenced for his role in the
1988 Anfal (Spoils of War)
campaign against ethnic Kurds that prosecutors say
killed up to 182,000 Kurds.
In 1991, Shiites across southern Iraq rose up
against the former Baghdad regime at the
encouragement of victorious US -led coalition
forces, who defeated Iraq in the Gulf War after
Saddam invaded Kuwait. |
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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Tens of thousands were subsequently massacred in
brutal crackdowns around the holy Shiite cities of
Najaf and Karbala, as in the Hilla and Basra
regions.
On June 24, the same Iraqi
court condemned Chemical Ali
and two other defendants to death by hanging for
genocide over the systematic
slaughter of 182,000 ethnic Kurds in 1988.
A nine-member appeals court is currently reviewing
the sentence and is expected to give its decision
soon. If the appeals panel certifies the sentence,
Majid will have to be executed within 30 days under
Iraqi law.
In that case, all charges against him would be
dropped in connection to the Shiite uprising case.
Saddam, removed from power by the US-led liberation
in 2003, was executed on December 30 for crimes
against humanity in a separate case and charges
against him over the slaughter of ethnic Kurds were
dropped.
AFP
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