September 3, 2007
BAGHDAD, -- The chief prosecutor of the
Supreme Iraqi Criminal Court said Denmark has no
right to try the former Iraqi army chief Nizar
Khazraji of staff for alleged crimes committed on
the Iraqi territories during the anti-Kurds campaign
of Anfal in 1988.
"No court may try Iraqis for crimes allegedly
committed inside Iraq," Jaafar al-Mawsawi told VOI
on Saturday.
The chief prosecutor added "the arrest warrant
against Nizar Khazraji, the Iraqi army chief of
staff during the Anfal campaign, is illegal as the
Iraqi Supreme Criminal Court is the only authorized
court to look into such a case."
Anfal (Spoils of War)
campaign against ethnic Kurds in in Kurdish north.
The brutal Anfal campaign of 1988 saw bombings, mass
deportation and gas attacks in which an estimated to
over
182,000 Kurds were killed and 4,000 villages wiped
out.
"If Khazraji was arrested and handed over to
Denmark, we will officially request his handover to
the Iraqi court for prosecution as the Iraqi court
is the only authorized party to try defendants from
the former regime who were charged with human abuses
in Iraq," al-Mawsawi said.
Last week, the Interpol published on its website an
arrest warrant issued by a Danish court in Soroe
city against Nizar Abdul Karim Khazraji, the Iraqi
army chief of staff during the anti-Kurds campaign
Anfal in 1988, on charges of committing crimes
against humanity and genocide. |
Nizar Khazraji, on charges of committing crimes
against humanity and genocide against ethnic Kurds
in in Kurdish north of Iraq
Nizar
Khazraji |
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