|
Saddam trial for genocide charges resumes
 BAGHDAD - Saddam Husseins trial on genocide charges resumes in Baghdad Monday with more Kurdish witnesses testifying one week after a human rights watchdog highlighted what it called fundamental flaws in the deposed Iraqi presidents first trial.Lawyers for Saddam and six co-defendants are expected to present their witness list during the 23rd hearing of a trial that began on August 21 and was temporarily adjourned on November 8. The seven men are accused of responsibility for the deaths of 182,000 Kurds during the so-called Anfal campaign, when government troops swept through Iraqi Kurdistan in 1988, burning and bombing thousands of villages. Saddam and his former aides argue that it was a legitimate counter-insurgency operation against Kurdish separatists at a time when the country was at war with its neighbour Iran. The accused including Saddams cousin Ali Hassan Al Majid, known as Chemical Ali all face the death penalty if convicted. Saddam and Majid are the only defendants facing a charge of genocide, however. Posted by: Steve White 2006-11-27 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=173223 |