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Iraq wants to execute Saddam aides
together
18.3.2008
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March 18, 2008
BAGHDAD, -- The Iraqi government said on
Tuesday it wanted to execute together three former
aides of Saddam Hussein, including "Chemical Ali,"
who face the gallows for a genocidal campaign
against Kurds.
Ali Hassan al-Majid, widely known as Chemical Ali,
was sentenced to death last June for genocide, along
with former defence minister Sultan Hashim al-Tai
and Hussein Rashid al-Tikriti, once armed forces
deputy chief of operations.
The three were convicted of overseeing a brutal
military campaign known as Anfal against Kurdish
villagers in 1988 that left 182,000 Kurds dead,www.ekurd.net
and of war crimes and
crimes against humanity.
"The Iraqi cabinet calls for the three Saddam aides
to be executed together at one time in order to
implement the sentence issued by the court against
them," a cabinet statement said. |
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, |
The executions have been
delayed by legal wranglings.
On February 29, Iraq's three-member presidency
endorsed the execution of Majid, but gave no
information about the fate of the other two men.
Under Iraqi law the three men should have been
executed by October 4 last year, 30 days after the
sentences were upheld by the Supreme Court.
But Iraq decided to postpone them until after the
Muslim holy month of Ramadan, because of the outcry
over Saddam's hanging during another Muslim holiday
in December 2006.
The hangings were further put off because President
Jalal Talabani and his Sunni deputy, Tareq al-Hashemi,
refused to sign the three execution orders.
The three men are in the custody of the US military,
which has refused to hand them over to the Iraqi
authorities unless the legal hitches are resolved.
A source close to the Iraqi High Tribunal, which
sentenced the three, said the executions were
delayed because the US authorities were under
pressure from Hashemi.
"Hashemi is the obstacle in the executions," he
said, adding that the Sunni leader and the US
authorities believe the three executions could
trigger fresh chaos in the country.
"We don't understand how it can trigger chaos. None
of them is like Saddam."
He said Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was determined
to carry out the hangings.
"The prime minister just wants to implement the
sentences as per law.
He said the legal advisors of the government said it
no longer had to adhere to the 30 days period.
"That deadline was only for the first time. We have
already passed that deadline," he added.
Meanwhile, Talabani has opposed the execution of
Sultan Hashim, saying he had once provoked the
former regime official to revolt against Saddam.
AFP | Agencies
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