Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Trial opens for 15 of Saddam's aides
Crime
(BBC) - The trial has opened in Baghdad of 15 aides of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein for the suppression of a Shia uprising after the 1991 Gulf War. It is the third trial held by the Iraq High Tribunal. Among those in the dock is Saddam Hussein's cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as "Chemical Ali". It is widely estimated that tens of thousands of people were killed when the short-lived uprising was crushed. In recent years, many mass graves have been uncovered.
The uprising started days after the US-led alliance had driven Saddam's forces out of Kuwait. Across the predominantly Shia provinces of southern Iraq there were apparently spontaneous rebellions. The trial will deal with crimes against humanity allegedly committed by Iraqi military leaders and leaders of the ruling Baath Party in putting down these rebellions and in the punishment of suspected supporters of the uprising. Majid has already been sentenced to death in an earlier trial for crimes against the Kurdish population, as have two more of the defendants.
US President George Bush Senior's decision not to press on to Baghdad after defeating Saddam Hussein's forces in Kuwait long remained contentious among Shia who believed they had a green light to stage an uprising. The fact that Saddam Hussein's forces were able to use helicopters as gunships against those who took part also caused concern. The trial could revive these controversies.
The uprising started days after the US-led alliance had driven Saddam's forces out of Kuwait. Across the predominantly Shia provinces of southern Iraq there were apparently spontaneous rebellions. The trial will deal with crimes against humanity allegedly committed by Iraqi military leaders and leaders of the ruling Baath Party in putting down these rebellions and in the punishment of suspected supporters of the uprising. Majid has already been sentenced to death in an earlier trial for crimes against the Kurdish population, as have two more of the defendants.
US President George Bush Senior's decision not to press on to Baghdad after defeating Saddam Hussein's forces in Kuwait long remained contentious among Shia who believed they had a green light to stage an uprising. The fact that Saddam Hussein's forces were able to use helicopters as gunships against those who took part also caused concern. The trial could revive these controversies.
Labels: Ali Hassan al-Majid, Chemical Ali, Iraq High Tribunal, Saddam Hussein, Shia uprising
Jordan won't hand over Saddam's daughter to Iraq
Region
(AP) -- Jordan indicated Monday it is not ready to surrender Saddam Hussein's eldest daughter to Iraq, despite a new push from authorities in Baghdad for her to face charges of funneling money to Sunni insurgents. A visiting Iraqi delegation last week handed Jordanian authorities a list of wanted fugitives, including Raghad Saddam Hussein, the independent newspaper Al Arab Al Yawm reported Monday. Interpol has posted a "red notice" on its Web site, advising that Saddam's daughter is wanted by the Iraqi government for "crimes against life and health" and for inciting terrorism.
Jordanian government spokesman Nasser Judeh said Monday that Jordan was "not dealing with that situation right now. We will deal with this issue when it happens, but it isn't on the agenda," he said. "It's only a warning from Interpol and not an arrest warrant." Red notices from Interpol are not international arrest warrants, but are intended to advise police forces that an individual is sought by a member government, according to Interpol's Web site.
The issue of what to do with Saddam's daughters is complicated by Sunni Arab hostility, including in Jordan, toward the Shiite-dominated government of Iraq. An estimated 750,000 Iraqis, many of them Sunnis, have fled to Jordan to escape the chaos back home. Raghad, 38, and her sister, Rana, were granted refuge in Jordan by King Abdullah II after their father's regime collapsed in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Since then, the Jordanian government has turned down repeated requests by Iraq to hand over Raghad, insisting that to do so would violate Arab traditions of hospitality."We have always said that she is here on purely humanitarian grounds," Judeh told reporters. "It was agreed with her that she would never practice any political or media activities." Last year, Iraqi authorities included Raghad on a list of most wanted fugitives accused of supporting Sunni insurgents. Many of those on the list are believed to be in Jordan.
According to Al Arab Al Yawm, the Iraqis also asked for other Iraqi Sunnis, including Raghad's cousins, Ahmed Watban and Mohammed Sabawi; Harith al-Dhari, a hard-line cleric believed linked to Sunni insurgents; and Ziad Aziz, son of Saddam's deputy, Prime Minister Tariq Aziz, who is now in U.S. custody. Iraqi authorities have not released detailed information to support the allegations against Raghad or the others.
In the absence of such public evidence, Jordan is unlikely to risk a Sunni backlash by handing over Sunnis to Iraq. "If Raghad Saddam Hussein was responsible for all that is happening in Iraq with the chaos, massacres, car bombs, al-Qaida, the Mahdi Army ... then the Americans shouldn't be in dialogue with the Iranians, but with her," a former information minister, Saleh Qallab, wrote Monday in the pro-government daily Al Rai.
"It's about time that Iraq, instead of creating the 'Interpol hurricane,' proves its courage and says loudly and clearly that the one responsible for all that is happening in Iraq is Iran," he said. Raghad has been known to speak publicly in support of the anti-American insurgency in Iraq - most recently in Yemen in February, when she joined hundreds of Baath party supporters commemorating the 40-day period since Saddam's death.
At the gathering, Raghad - who supervised Saddam's defense before his conviction and subsequent hanging - said that "as long as the resistance and the mujahedeen are fulfilling their duties in Iraq, the Iraqi people, without any doubt, will achieve victory."
Jordanian government spokesman Nasser Judeh said Monday that Jordan was "not dealing with that situation right now. We will deal with this issue when it happens, but it isn't on the agenda," he said. "It's only a warning from Interpol and not an arrest warrant." Red notices from Interpol are not international arrest warrants, but are intended to advise police forces that an individual is sought by a member government, according to Interpol's Web site.
The issue of what to do with Saddam's daughters is complicated by Sunni Arab hostility, including in Jordan, toward the Shiite-dominated government of Iraq. An estimated 750,000 Iraqis, many of them Sunnis, have fled to Jordan to escape the chaos back home. Raghad, 38, and her sister, Rana, were granted refuge in Jordan by King Abdullah II after their father's regime collapsed in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Since then, the Jordanian government has turned down repeated requests by Iraq to hand over Raghad, insisting that to do so would violate Arab traditions of hospitality."We have always said that she is here on purely humanitarian grounds," Judeh told reporters. "It was agreed with her that she would never practice any political or media activities." Last year, Iraqi authorities included Raghad on a list of most wanted fugitives accused of supporting Sunni insurgents. Many of those on the list are believed to be in Jordan.
According to Al Arab Al Yawm, the Iraqis also asked for other Iraqi Sunnis, including Raghad's cousins, Ahmed Watban and Mohammed Sabawi; Harith al-Dhari, a hard-line cleric believed linked to Sunni insurgents; and Ziad Aziz, son of Saddam's deputy, Prime Minister Tariq Aziz, who is now in U.S. custody. Iraqi authorities have not released detailed information to support the allegations against Raghad or the others.
In the absence of such public evidence, Jordan is unlikely to risk a Sunni backlash by handing over Sunnis to Iraq. "If Raghad Saddam Hussein was responsible for all that is happening in Iraq with the chaos, massacres, car bombs, al-Qaida, the Mahdi Army ... then the Americans shouldn't be in dialogue with the Iranians, but with her," a former information minister, Saleh Qallab, wrote Monday in the pro-government daily Al Rai.
"It's about time that Iraq, instead of creating the 'Interpol hurricane,' proves its courage and says loudly and clearly that the one responsible for all that is happening in Iraq is Iran," he said. Raghad has been known to speak publicly in support of the anti-American insurgency in Iraq - most recently in Yemen in February, when she joined hundreds of Baath party supporters commemorating the 40-day period since Saddam's death.
At the gathering, Raghad - who supervised Saddam's defense before his conviction and subsequent hanging - said that "as long as the resistance and the mujahedeen are fulfilling their duties in Iraq, the Iraqi people, without any doubt, will achieve victory."
Labels: Jordan, Raghad Saddam Hussein, Saddam Hussein, Sunni insurgents
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Sunnis celebrate Saddam's birthday
(Gulf News) - A crowd of at least 200 Iraqi Sunnis gathered in parts of northern Iraq on Saturday to celebrate Saddam Hussain’s birthday. Residents, mostly children, gathered at Saddam’s tomb in Awja where he was buried after being hanged on December 30 for crimes against humanity. "They regard him as their father," said Fatin Abdul Qadir, the head of a children's organisation in the province. The children placed a wreath on the tomb and adorned it with unlit candles. Ali Al Nida, the chief of the Baijat tribe to which Saddam belonged, attended the ceremony after initially urging his people to keep the celebrations small.
Labels: Ali Al Nida, Awja, Baijat tribe, Saddam Hussein
Friday, April 06, 2007
Senior officers of Saddam's military to receive pensions
Politics
(AP) - Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government has ordered that senior officers of Saddam Hussein military receive pensions and requested that lower-ranking soldiers be allowed to serve again as part of a sectarian reconciliation plan, the government said Friday. Al-Maliki's office said the decision was made during a Cabinet meeting late last month.
Many former top intelligence, security and military officials are believed to have joined the Sunni insurgency after L. Paul Bremer, the former U.S. administrator, disbanded Iraq's 350,000-member military on May 23, 2003, a month after Saddam's regime was ousted. The al-Maliki statement said any former officer above the rank of major would be given a pension equal to that of officers now retiring. Former officers above major who wanted to rejoin the army were encouraged to check with the military command to learn if they were acceptable in the Iraqi army that is being rebuilt by American forces.
Those who had the rank of major or lower may voluntarily return to the army and will be guaranteed a place.
Lower ranking officiers and enlisted men with scientific or medical training would be given jobs in an appropriate government ministry, the statement said.
The prime minister and President Jalal Talabani were expected to introduce legislation in parliament last week that would allow former members of Saddam Hussein's ruling Baath party — including those in the feared security and paramilitary forces — to regain government jobs. The measure still has not reached the floor, a delay that reflects heavy opposition to the measure among Shiite and Kurdish officials whose people were oppressed by Saddam. The Bush administration has set out several benchmarks for al-Maliki's government. One is passage of the de-Baathification law to encourage Sunnis to rejoin the political process.
Many former top intelligence, security and military officials are believed to have joined the Sunni insurgency after L. Paul Bremer, the former U.S. administrator, disbanded Iraq's 350,000-member military on May 23, 2003, a month after Saddam's regime was ousted. The al-Maliki statement said any former officer above the rank of major would be given a pension equal to that of officers now retiring. Former officers above major who wanted to rejoin the army were encouraged to check with the military command to learn if they were acceptable in the Iraqi army that is being rebuilt by American forces.
Those who had the rank of major or lower may voluntarily return to the army and will be guaranteed a place.
Lower ranking officiers and enlisted men with scientific or medical training would be given jobs in an appropriate government ministry, the statement said.
The prime minister and President Jalal Talabani were expected to introduce legislation in parliament last week that would allow former members of Saddam Hussein's ruling Baath party — including those in the feared security and paramilitary forces — to regain government jobs. The measure still has not reached the floor, a delay that reflects heavy opposition to the measure among Shiite and Kurdish officials whose people were oppressed by Saddam. The Bush administration has set out several benchmarks for al-Maliki's government. One is passage of the de-Baathification law to encourage Sunnis to rejoin the political process.
Labels: former Iraqi Army, insurgency, pension, Saddam Hussein
Monday, March 26, 2007
Tikrit may turn into 'shrine' for all Baathists
Politics, Security
(Gulf News) Tikrit, the hometown of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussain and senior leaders of the Arab Baath Party, is expecting to receive the bodies of more Iraqi leaders who are on trial in the Anfal case, the city's deputy governor said. Tikrit was chosen to be a burial place for former Iraqi Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan, who was executed last week. According to high-level sources in the Iraqi government, all of the former leaders who are on trial in the Anfal case are being recommended for burial next to Saddam.
Hussain Al Assadi, a prominent figure in the Shiite Islamic Revolution Supreme Council, told Gulf News: "The government is committing a gross mistake by allowing Saddam and his colleagues to be buried together in neighbouring graves, it will soon turn into a shrine for all Baathists. It would be better to bury them in unknown and secret places."
Hussain Al Assadi, a prominent figure in the Shiite Islamic Revolution Supreme Council, told Gulf News: "The government is committing a gross mistake by allowing Saddam and his colleagues to be buried together in neighbouring graves, it will soon turn into a shrine for all Baathists. It would be better to bury them in unknown and secret places."
Labels: Baathists, Saddam Hussein, Tikrit
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Saddam's VP buried next to him in Ouja
(AP) Hundreds of chanting mourners buried Saddam Hussein's former vice president near the ousted dictator, his sons and two other executed deputies Tuesday in a spot that has become the graveyard of the ousted regime. Taha Yassin Ramadan's body, which was covered with the Iraqi flag, was interred in a building courtyard in the Tigris River village of Ouja hours after he was hanged for his part in the killings of 148 Shiite Muslims following a 1982 assassination attempt on Saddam.
Police, meanwhile, found the bullet-riddled bodies of 32 men scattered across Baghdad. The corpses showed signs of torture and were the apparent victims of sectarian death squads, most of which are believed to be operated by Shiite militias. That number was below the average of 50 bodies that were turning up daily on the capital's streets before the U.S.-Iraqi security operation started Feb. 14. Militia fighters have been lying low to avoid a confrontation with American troops. The number of execution-style deaths was notable, however, because the toll had fallen as low as seven a day, prompting American and Iraqi officials to express cautious optimism that sectarian violence was ebbing.
Police, meanwhile, found the bullet-riddled bodies of 32 men scattered across Baghdad. The corpses showed signs of torture and were the apparent victims of sectarian death squads, most of which are believed to be operated by Shiite militias. That number was below the average of 50 bodies that were turning up daily on the capital's streets before the U.S.-Iraqi security operation started Feb. 14. Militia fighters have been lying low to avoid a confrontation with American troops. The number of execution-style deaths was notable, however, because the toll had fallen as low as seven a day, prompting American and Iraqi officials to express cautious optimism that sectarian violence was ebbing.
Ramadan, Saddam's vice president at the start of the war, was hanged before dawn in what was once Iraq's military intelligence headquarters in Baghdad. Police in Tikrit, Saddam's hometown, said the body was flown to the area by the U.S. military, then driven to Ouja to be buried near the flower-covered graves of co-defendants Barzan Ibrahim and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, who were executed in January. Saddam's sons Odai and Qusai and grandson Mustafa also are buried in the courtyard, and the former dictator's grave is inside the building.
Yahya Ibrahim, a Sunni Arab cleric and member of the Association of Muslim Scholars, said Ramadan had asked in his will to be buried at the site, which has become a focal point for loyalists of the former regime. Ouja, just outside Tikrit and about a 90-minute drive north of Baghdad, is near where Saddam was captured by American soldiers in December 2003.
Yahya Ibrahim, a Sunni Arab cleric and member of the Association of Muslim Scholars, said Ramadan had asked in his will to be buried at the site, which has become a focal point for loyalists of the former regime. Ouja, just outside Tikrit and about a 90-minute drive north of Baghdad, is near where Saddam was captured by American soldiers in December 2003.
Labels: death squads, Ouja, Saddam Hussein, Shia militias, Taha Yassin Ramadan
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Saddam's vice president to hang
Law
(AP) An Iraqi court has upheld the death sentence against Saddam Hussein's former deputy for his role in the killing of 148 Shiites in 1982, a judge said Thursday. Taha Yassin Ramadan, who was Saddam's vice president when the regime was ousted by the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, will be hanged, the method of execution in Iraq, the judge Mounir Haddad said at a news conference. The decision was final.
The appeals court decision was relayed to the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, which will set the date for the execution, he added. Haddad, a member of the court's nine-judge panel, said the decision to uphold the death sentence was unanimous. Ramadan was sentenced to life in prison but an appeals court ruled that was too lenient and asked that the lower court reconsider. The court sentenced him to death last month. He maintained his innocence, saying his duties were limited to economic affairs, not security issues.
The appeals court decision was relayed to the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, which will set the date for the execution, he added. Haddad, a member of the court's nine-judge panel, said the decision to uphold the death sentence was unanimous. Ramadan was sentenced to life in prison but an appeals court ruled that was too lenient and asked that the lower court reconsider. The court sentenced him to death last month. He maintained his innocence, saying his duties were limited to economic affairs, not security issues.
The decision to impose the maximum sentence against Ramadan ignored appeals from international human rights groups. Human Rights Watch and the International Center for Transitional Justice said the evidence was insufficient for such a punishment.
Labels: execution, Saddam Hussein, Taha Yassin Ramadan
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Bodies of Saddam's sons and grandsons exhumed
Saddam Hussein
In a sign of the persistent Sunni resentment that is behind much of the violence, the bodies of Saddam Hussein's sons and a grandson were exhumed and reburied near the ousted leader's grave in Ouja, his hometown north of Baghdad. Saddam was hanged on Dec. 30 and buried the next day in a grave chipped out of an interior floor of a building he had built for religious events.
Tribal officials said they decided to move the remains of Saddam's sons Odai, 39, and Qusai, 37, and his 14-year-old grandson Mustafa, who died July 22, 2003, in a gunbattle with U.S. troops in the northern city of Mosul, to keep all members of the family in one place. Tribal chief Ali al-Nida and three other relatives accompanied the bodies as they were transferred Tuesday in three cars from the cemetery about a mile from the building in which Saddam is buried.
The three bodies were buried in the courtyard near the graves of Saddam's half brother and former intelligence chief Barzan Ibrahim, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, former head of Iraq's Revolutionary Court, who also were sent to the gallows in January for the killings of 148 Shiites in the town of Dujail in 1982. The five burial mounds were covered with Iraqi flags as people prayed next to them during the service in Ouja, near the scene of Saddam's capture by American soldiers in December 2003.
Tribal officials said they decided to move the remains of Saddam's sons Odai, 39, and Qusai, 37, and his 14-year-old grandson Mustafa, who died July 22, 2003, in a gunbattle with U.S. troops in the northern city of Mosul, to keep all members of the family in one place. Tribal chief Ali al-Nida and three other relatives accompanied the bodies as they were transferred Tuesday in three cars from the cemetery about a mile from the building in which Saddam is buried.
The three bodies were buried in the courtyard near the graves of Saddam's half brother and former intelligence chief Barzan Ibrahim, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, former head of Iraq's Revolutionary Court, who also were sent to the gallows in January for the killings of 148 Shiites in the town of Dujail in 1982. The five burial mounds were covered with Iraqi flags as people prayed next to them during the service in Ouja, near the scene of Saddam's capture by American soldiers in December 2003.
Labels: Ali al-Nida, graves, Ouja, Saddam Hussein
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Saddam judge seeks asylum in the UK
Saddam Hussein
(Al Jazeera) The Iraqi judge who sentenced Saddam Hussein to death has fled Iraq and sought asylum in the UK. Al Jazeera's correspondent in London quoted British official sources as saying that Raouf Abdel-Rahman, a member of Iraq's Kurdish minority, has requested political asylum in Britain with his family. Abdel-Rahman headed the Supreme Iraq Criminal Tribunal that heard Saddam's genocide trial and found the former Iraqi president guilty, leading to his execution.
Nasir al-Badri, Al Jazeera's correspondent in London, reported that Abdel-Rahman has applied for political asylum and that the British Home Office was considering his application. "We contacted the British Home Office to make sure whether he and his family have applied for asylum but they refused to comment, saying they did not comment on personal or private cases", al-Badri said. "But the accredited sources we first talked to were 100 per cent sure they have examined some papers and documents Abdel-Rahman has presented besides an application for residence in Britain", he said.
Besides sending Saddam to the gallows, Abdel-Rahman had also sentenced two other top Saddam aides to death in the same trial. The two were Saddam's half brother and former intelligence chief, Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, former head of Iraq's Revolutionary Court.
Nasir al-Badri, Al Jazeera's correspondent in London, reported that Abdel-Rahman has applied for political asylum and that the British Home Office was considering his application. "We contacted the British Home Office to make sure whether he and his family have applied for asylum but they refused to comment, saying they did not comment on personal or private cases", al-Badri said. "But the accredited sources we first talked to were 100 per cent sure they have examined some papers and documents Abdel-Rahman has presented besides an application for residence in Britain", he said.
Besides sending Saddam to the gallows, Abdel-Rahman had also sentenced two other top Saddam aides to death in the same trial. The two were Saddam's half brother and former intelligence chief, Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, former head of Iraq's Revolutionary Court.
Labels: judge, Raouf Abdel-Rahman, Saddam Hussein, Save the Children UK
