Saddam Hussein and his former top army commanders will go on trial on Aug. 21 on charges of killing tens of thousands of Iraq's Kurds in 1988 in a military operation to force them from their villages.
Kurds, whose northern region is still haunted by the seven-month "Anfal" campaign, have long sought justice and want the former president to face the death penalty, as he does in a current trial over killings of Shiites.
Chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Moussawi told Reuters that seven defendants including Saddam's cousin, Ali Hassan al-Majid or "Chemical Ali," would stand trial in the new case.
All seven face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Saddam and Majid face the additional graver charge of genocide, which also carries the death penalty.
Saddam is currently being tried only for crimes against humanity.
"Anfal," meaning "spoils of war," is a term taken from a verse in the Koran that calls for terror to be struck into the hearts of unbelievers. Mustard gas and nerve agents were used to drive villagers from their homes.
The campaign devastated Kurdistan, and the mountainous region bordering Turkey has never fully recovered. By some estimates 4,500 villages were destroyed and hundreds of thousands of people killed, tortured or displaced.
Many were shot and their bodies dumped in mass graves. US military investigators said this week that in two of the graves they excavated they found 123 bodies, including 88 children and infants. All had been shot in the back of the head.
"When Saddam and those accused with him are executed we will feel great relief," said Ibrahim Wadi, 31, who was detained along with his family during the campaign.
Court officials say that they are preparing about a dozen cases against Saddam that could take years. No executions are likely until appeals have been heard..
In other developments, Iraq yesterday said it captured a Tunisian alleged to be one of the main al-Qaeda militants responsible for the bombing of a revered Shiite shrine in February.
The attack unleashed a wave of sectarian violence.
"We managed to capture Abu Qudama al-Tunisi, a Tunisian, recently and he took an active part in blowing up the Golden mosque," national security adviser Muwaffaq al-Rubaie told reporters.
"Abu Qudama has taken an active part in blowing up the Golden mosque under the leadership of Haitham al-Badri who is the leader of the [Samarra] cell of al-Qaeda in Iraq."
According to statistics prepared by International Organization of Migration, 18,292 families or 109,752 individuals have left their original homes since February.
It said most families "chose to leave their place of residence because of threats, abductions and assassinations."
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia