Iran wants former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, whose Baghdad trial resumed on Wednesday, to be charged with ordering poison gas attacks that killed thousands of Iranian civilians during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, a top Iranian official said.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Saddam had used chemical weapons to kill Iranians during the war, especially in Iran's northwestern Kurdish area, flattening entire villages and destroying farms.
"Iran is the main victim of chemical weapons. Saddam's use of chemicals was against international laws," Mottaki told reporters in a hospital where he was visiting "living martyrs," wounded survivors of Saddam's chemical weapons attacks.
Mottaki said Iran had prepared a petition which the foreign ministry would pass on to the court in Baghdad.
The petition included documents that proved Iraq's use of nerve and mustard gas during the eight-year war, Mottaki said.
"During the war, Saddam used chemicals against Iran 20 times," Mottaki said, adding that some 40,000 people had been affected.
Iran has repeatedly accused the West of supplying Saddam with the technology and some of the materials to develop chemical weapons.
But Iran was deeply concerned about the influence of the US on the trial, he added.
SADDAM ACCUSES
During his trial in Iraq yesterday, Saddam accused the White House of lying, citing its prewar assertions that Iraq had chemical weapons and its denial of his statement that he had been tortured in US custody.
Speaking at the start of the seventh session of his trial on charges of crimes against humanity, Saddam rekindled his battle of words with Washington.
"The White House are liars. They said Iraq had chemical weapons," he told the court.
"They lied again when they said that what Saddam said was wrong," he added, referring to a White House dismissal of his claim that he was tortured.
Saddam made his torture allegation during Wednesday's hearing and said he had bruises on his body to prove it. He did not, however, show any bruises and the judge has so far made no public ruling on whether the allegation should be investigated.
"That's one of the most preposterous things I've heard from Saddam Hussein recently," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said in Washington in response.
"Saddam Hussein is being treated the exact opposite of the way his regime treated those he imprisoned and tortured simply for expressing their opinions. And so I reject that," he said.
The judge dismissed a courtroom guard yesterday after the defendants complained he had threatened them, and Saddam's half-brother and co-defendant Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti accused prosecutors of being former fellow members of the Baath party.
"This is the biggest insult in my life, to be associated with this blood-stained party," said one prosecutor, who asked to be relieved of his duties because of personal insults from the dock -- a request dismissed by the Kurdish judge.
The first witness to testify yesterday spoke from behind a curtain to protect his identity, but, like some earlier witnesses, said nothing directly implicating either Saddam or the other defendants in the Dujail killings.
Defense lawyers questioned his reliability as a witness, pointing out he was only eight in 1982.
"This is a waste of time," one said. "He was only a child."
Taiwan’s Lee Chia-hao (李佳豪) on Sunday won a silver medal at the All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham, England, a career best. Lee, 25, took silver in the final of the men’s singles against world No. 1 Shi Yuqi (石宇奇) of China, who won 21-17, 21-19 in a tough match that lasted 51 minutes. After the match, the Taiwanese player, who ranks No. 22 in the world, said it felt unreal to be challenging an opponent of Shi’s caliber. “I had to be in peak form, and constantly switch my rhythm and tactics in order to score points effectively,” he said. Lee got
‘CROWN JEWEL’: Washington ‘can delay and deter’ Chinese President Xi Jinping’s plans for Taiwan, but it is ‘a very delicate situation there,’ the secretary of state said US President Donald Trump is opposed to any change to Taiwan’s “status quo” by force or extortion and would maintain that policy, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Hugh Hewitt Show host on Wednesday. The US’ policy is to maintain Taiwan’s “status quo” and to oppose any changes in the situation by force or extortion, Rubio said. Hewitt asked Rubio about the significance of Trump earlier this month speaking with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) at the White House, a meeting that Hewitt described as a “big deal.” Asked whether the meeting was an indication of the
‘RELATIVELY STRONG LANGUAGE’: An expert said the state department has not softened its language on China and was ‘probably a little more Taiwan supportive’ China’s latest drills near Taiwan on Monday were “brazen and irresponsible threats,” a US Department of State spokesperson said on Tuesday, while reiterating Washington’s decades-long support of Taipei. “China cannot credibly claim to be a ‘force for stability in a turbulent world’ while issuing brazen and irresponsible threats toward Taiwan,” the unnamed spokesperson said in an e-mailed response to media queries. Washington’s enduring commitment to Taiwan will continue as it has for 45 years and the US “will continue to support Taiwan in the face of China’s military, economic, informational and diplomatic pressure campaign,” the e-mail said. “Alongside our international partners, we firmly
KAOHSIUNG CEREMONY: The contract chipmaker is planning to build 5 fabs in the southern city to gradually expand its 2-nanometer chip capacity Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, yesterday confirmed that it plans to hold a ceremony on March 31 to unveil a capacity expansion plan for its most advanced 2-nanometer chips in Kaohsiung, demonstrating its commitment to further investment at home. The ceremony is to be hosted by TSMC cochief operating officer Y.P. Chyn (秦永沛). It did not disclose whether Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) and high-ranking government officials would attend the ceremony. More details are to be released next week, it said. The chipmaker’s latest move came after its announcement earlier this month of an additional US$100 billion
RSS