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Iraq to sue Halabja chemical weapon
supplier
13.3.2008
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March 13, 2008
BAGHDAD, -- Iraq plans to take legal action
against the suppliers of chemicals used in a poison
gas attack on the Kurdish town of Halabja in Iraq's
Kurdistan, which killed 5,000 Kurds in 1988.
The government on Wednesday also approved $6m to
finance construction in the town ahead of the 20th
anniversary of the attack on March 16.
"The cabinet decided to take legal measures to sue
the companies who provided the ex-regime with the
chemical weapons used in Halabja," the statement
issued by the government said.
However, it did not elaborate on any specific
companies that might be the subject of the legal
challenge. |
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, |
In 2005, a court in the
Netherlands
sentenced a Dutch businessman
Frans Van Anraat for aiding Kurds genocide to 15
years in prison - later
raised to 17 years
- for supplying the raw materials for poison gas to
Saddam Hussein's government.
The gas was used by his government in Halabja, and
also in the 1980-1988 war with Iran.
'Positive step'
Jamal Abdulla, a spokesman for the government of the
largely autonomous Kurdistan region, said they had
not been informed of the decision,www.ekurd.net
but welcomed it as a
positive step.
Residents of Halabja have long complained of neglect
by Kurdistan and Iraqi government authorities,
although development in the town has accelerated in
the last two years.
Fouad Salih, the town's mayor, also welcomed the
decision.
He said: "The former regime's crime destroyed the
whole town. And this decision taken by the Iraqi
government will help to enhance and develop the
services delivered to its citizens."
Saddam's government waged a military campaign called
Anfal (spoils of war) against Iraq's Kurds in the
1980s that killed tens of thousands.
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, in which chemical weapons were used,
The Anfal operation crackdown that killed nearly
200,000 Kurdish civilians and guerrillas.
Ali Hassan al-Majeed, a cousin of Saddam widely
known as "Chemical Ali" for his use of poison gas,
was sentenced to death last June for his role in the
genocide campaign but legal issues have largely held
up his execution.
aljazeera net | Agencies
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