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Iraq's PM demands U.S. release 'Chemical
Ali', two others for execution
10.3.2008
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March 10, 2008
BAGHDAD, -- An adviser to Iraqi Prime
Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Sunday that the
government leader is demanding the U.S. military
hand over three men convicted of genocide for
execution and is furious they have not done so.
American officials have said they would turn over
one of the men, the Saddam Hussein henchman and
cousin known as "Chemical Ali" for his part in the
mass killing of Kurds in the 1980s, but that no such
request had been officially made.
The U.S. has custody of Ali Hassan al-Majid, as well
as the two others — Hussein Rashid Mohammed,www.ekurd.net
the former deputy
director of operations for the Iraqi armed forces,
and former defense minister Sultan Hashim al-Taie —
who were convicted of genocide, war crimes and
crimes against humanity for their part in the
Kurdish campaign.
At the center of the dispute is the decision earlier
this month by the three-member presidential council
to block the executions of Mohammed and al-Taie. The
council, which is made up of President Jalal
Talabani, a Kurd, and the Sunni and Shiite vice
presidents, endorsed al-Majid's death sentence, but
al-Maliki has refused to execute him unless the
sentences of the other two are approved.
The Iraqi prime minister believes executing only al-Majid
would be a sign of weakness on the part of his
government, said al-Maliki's adviser Sunday,
speaking on condition of anonymity because he was
not authorized to talk to the media.
The adviser, who is in charge of negotiations with
the American side on handing over the three men,
said al-Maliki believes the executions of al-Taie
and Mohammed do not need approval of the
presidential council.
However, "the Americans are of the opinion that the
execution should be approved first by the
presidential council," the adviser added. |
Iraqi Prime minister Jawad Nuri al-Maliki
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, |
Al-Majid won little
sympathy when his sentence was handed down, but al-Taie
and Mohammed were seen by some as career soldiers
who were just following orders.
Many Sunni Arabs thought al-Taie's sentence was
evidence that Shiite and Kurdish officials were
persecuting the nation's once-dominant minority.
Saddam and many of his closest advisers were Sunnis.
Anfal was an anti-Kurdish campaign led by the former
regime between 1986 and 1989 and involved a series
of military campaigns against the Kurdish Peshmerga
fighters as well as the mostly Kurdish civilian
population of southern Kurdistan 'northern Iraq'.
The campaign,www.ekurd.net
in which chemical weapons were used,
The Anfal operation crackdown that killed nearly
200,000 Kurdish civilians and guerrillas.
AP
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