Saddam Hussein's Genocide Trial Resumes Monday
Nidhi Sharma - All Headline News Staff Writer Baghdad, Iraq (AHN) - After a 19 day hiatus, Saddam Hussein's second trial, on charges of genocide in connection with a crackdown on Kurds has resumed on Monday. The ex-President of Iraq and his six co-defendants currently face a possible death penalty for the killings of tens of thousands of Kurds during the Anfal campaign, a military assault in northern Iraq in the 1980s. Hussein is accused of using chemical weapons on many residents and herding them into prison camps. Hussein is still awaiting a verdict in the first case against him that involved the killings of 148 Shiites in a 1980s crackdown on the town of Dujail. There too, he and seven other co-defendants could face the death penalty if convicted. The trial lasted nine months and a verdict is expected on Oct. 16. The new trial - regarding the Anfal campaign, which began in August was on a far greater scale than the Dujail crackdown, with anywhere from 50,000 to 180,000 Kurds killed. The trial is likely to extend for several more months. In Monday's hearing, Saddam's chief lawyer, Iraqi Khalil al-Dulaimi, was not present, but lawyers for the other defendants were. As the chief judge argued with one of the lawyers on technicalities pertaining to witnesses taking the stand, Saddam clutched his Quran, Islam's holy book. On Sunday, about 300 demonstrators in the Kifri region of northern Iraq demanded a quick and fair t |
