Former dictator Saddam Hussein will stand trial for a range of charges - from gassing thousands of Kurds to executing political and religious leaders, according to a list of the cases against him obtained from the special tribunal Monday.
Iraqi officials want the case against Saddam, who could face 500 charges if prosecutors were to proceed on all counts, to concentrate on about a dozen thoroughly documented cases that authorities believe the ousted leader will be convicted on.
A list obtained by The Associated Press early Monday from the special tribunal, which will hear the case against Saddam and 11 of his henchmen, showed that prosecutors seem to be concentrating on 14 cases concerning his alleged crimes. Many received international attention during Saddam's three decades in power.
The list contained few details, but among the crimes the tribunal says Saddam committed were:
_Executing at least 50 Iraqis in 1982 in the Shiite town of Dujail, 50 miles north of Baghdad, in retaliation for a failed assassination attempt against Saddam.
_Killing and deporting 8,000 members of the powerful Kurdish Barzani tribe, of which the current Kurdistan Democratic Party leader, Massoud Barzani, belongs.
_The 1988 chemical weapons attack on the Kurdish town of Halabja that killed an estimated 5,000 people.
_Executing prominent religious and political figures.
_Ordering the seven-month occupation of Kuwait that was ended by the 1991 U.S.-led Gulf War.
_The 1991 suppression of a Shiite uprising in southern Iraq.
Iraqi authorities believe the trial against Saddam, which could commence within two months, will have a major effect on curbing the violent insurgency, which has killed at least 844 people since the new Shiite Muslim-led government was announced April 28, according to an Associated Press count.
No comments:
Post a Comment