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."
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