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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Iran blasts Saddam trial plans as failure |
| 2005-09-05 |
| THE head of Iran's judiciary has said the Islamic republic is preparing its own charges against former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, saying Iraqi prosecutors have failed to lay sufficient charges against him. The official news agency IRNA said Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahrudi has "ordered the prosecutor general to prepare an indictment against Saddam for his crimes during the eight year Iran-Iraq war and to put it through legal channels." "What is important for the (Iranian) judiciary are the rights that were lost by Iranian citizens during the eight-year sacred defence war, those who lost their loved ones and the many war veterans who were wounded by chemical weapons," Ayatollah Shahrudi was quoted as saying. Ayatollah Shahrudi also criticised "the fact that Saddam's crimes against human rights during the war and his continuation of such crimes in Halabja and Kurdistan are not among the accusations brought up in this trial". Iraqi officials announced yesterday that Saddam would go on trial on October 19 over the massacre of Shiite villagers more than two decades ago, and an Iraqi government spokesman added that he could be executed for that crime without facing further charges. "For Saddam, this indictment is too insignificant and petty," Ayatollah Shahrudi said, urging Iraqi prosecutors "to prepare a real indictment" so that the trial will not be viewed as being "directed by the global arrogance" - or the United States... The realization dawns that the trial and execution of Saddam, not taking place in Tehran, implies that Tehran is not the center of the universe. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |