Saddam faces genocide charges

Saddam Hussein will stand trial on new charges of genocide against Kurds in the late 1980s, the court trying him for crimes against humanity said yesterday.

Prosecutors said the former Iraqi president, facing a possible death sentence, could stand trial as early as next month for the killing of thousands of Kurds and destruction of their villages. Saddam's co-accused will include his cousin, Ali Hassan al-Majeed, who is accused of playing a leading role in the campaign, known as Anfal.

Majeed is best known for directing an unrelated poison gas attack against the Kurdish village of Halabja in 1988 that killed 5,000 people and earned him the nickname "Chemical Ali".

"We declare the investigations are completed in the case called the Anfal campaign in which thousands of women, children and men were killed. The accused are being transferred to the criminal court," court spokesman Raid Jouhi said.

"They will be tried according to the Iraqi law for charges of genocide and crimes against humanity."

Saddam is already on trial in connection with the killing of 148 Shi'ites in the town of Dujail after an attempt on his life there in 1982.

Even though the Halabja gas attack took place in the same period as Anfal, it was not part of that campaign and will be tried in a separate case, said Jouhi and Iraqi prosecutors.

Kurds were pleased to hear Saddam would face charges for the Anfal campaign. But some said life had become so difficult in post-war Iraq that watching him on the witness stand would not make much of a difference.