Back in the dock just 48 hours after being condemned to death for crimes against humanity, former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein made an unlikely appeal for national reconciliation on Tuesday as his trial for genocide against the Kurds resumed in Baghdad.
"I call on all Iraqis, Arabs and Kurds, to forgive, reconcile and shake hands," Saddam said, as he again used his time in court to address the wider Iraqi public.
Both the prophet Mohammed and Jesus had forgiven their enemies, he added.
PHOTO: AP
Sunday's verdict in the Dujail trial had brought into stark focus the deepening fissures among Iraq's main communities and there were fears that it would lead to fresh spasms of violence. Shia Arabs and Kurds, who suffered disproportionately under Saddam, largely welcomed the ruling, but many Sunni Arabs reacted with dismay.
Also with the goal of reconciliation apparently in mind, the interior ministry said yesterday that it had charged nearly 100 policemen, including 19 senior officers, for "negligence, corruption and abuse of detainees" at the Site 4 prison in Baghdad. An interior ministry source said those charged included "several brigadier generals" and that further prosecutions of officers in other cases were in the offing.
The interior ministry, dominated by the ruling Shia parties, is suspected of operating death squads and torture centers that target mostly Sunni Arabs.
The source said that the charges, believed to be the first against interior ministry officials, "are about restoring public confidence and accountability in the police."
Saddam's fate is now in the hands of the appeal judges, who are expected to deliver their verdict in January. If the death penalty is upheld, he must be hanged within 30 days.
Saddam attended yesterday's session inside the heavily fortified courtroom in the Green Zone. Kurdish witnesses testified about an alleged massacre of 30 Kurdish men by Iraqi security forces in August 1998 after they had surrendered on news of an amnesty offer from Saddam.
Saddam and six co-defendants, including his cousin Ai Hassan al Majid, also known as "Chemical Ali," are charged with genocide for their alleged role in the deaths of at least 50,000 Kurdish civilians, as well as crimes against humanity for the destruction of Kurdish villages and the forced deportation of their inhabitants, during the "Anfal" operations of 1988.
PARLIAMENT CHAOS: Police forcibly removed Brazilian Deputy Glauber Braga after he called the legislation part of a ‘coup offensive’ and occupied the speaker’s chair Brazil’s lower house of Congress early yesterday approved a bill that could slash former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro’s prison sentence for plotting a coup, after efforts by a lawmaker to disrupt the proceedings sparked chaos in parliament. Bolsonaro has been serving a 27-year term since last month after his conviction for a scheme to stop Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office after the 2022 election. Lawmakers had been discussing a bill that would significantly reduce sentences for several crimes, including attempting a coup d’etat — opening up the prospect that Bolsonaro, 70, could have his sentence cut to
A plan by Switzerland’s right-wing People’s Party to cap the population at 10 million has the backing of almost half the country, according to a poll before an expected vote next year. The party, which has long campaigned against immigration, argues that too-fast population growth is overwhelming housing, transport and public services. The level of support comes despite the government urging voters to reject it, warning that strict curbs would damage the economy and prosperity, as Swiss companies depend on foreign workers. The poll by newspaper group Tamedia/20 Minuten and released yesterday showed that 48 percent of the population plan to vote
A powerful magnitude 7.6 earthquake shook Japan’s northeast region late on Monday, prompting tsunami warnings and orders for residents to evacuate. A tsunami as high as three metres (10 feet) could hit Japan’s northeastern coast after an earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 7.6 occurred offshore at 11:15 p.m. (1415 GMT), the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said. Tsunami warnings were issued for the prefectures of Hokkaido, Aomori and Iwate, and a tsunami of 40cm had been observed at Aomori’s Mutsu Ogawara and Hokkaido’s Urakawa ports before midnight, JMA said. The epicentre of the quake was 80 km (50 miles) off the coast of
A passerby could hear the cacophony from miles away in the Argentine capital, the unmistakable sound of 2,397 dogs barking — and breaking the unofficial world record for the largest-ever gathering of golden retrievers. Excitement pulsed through Bosques de Palermo, a sprawling park in Buenos Aires, as golden retriever-owners from all over Argentina transformed the park’s grassy expanse into a sea of bright yellow fur. Dog owners of all ages, their clothes covered in dog hair and stained with slobber, plopped down on picnic blankets with their beloved goldens to take in the surreal sight of so many other, exceptionally similar-looking ones.
RSS