Saddam genocide trial resumes amid assorted violence in Iraq

Source: Xinhuanet | 10-10-2006 10:27

BAGHDAD, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- The genocide trial of Iraqi toppled president Saddam Hussein resumed Monday without defense team, amid the assassination of the brother of Iraqi Vice President, mass policemen poisoning, kidnappings of Iraqi soldiers and a car bombing ripping through a popular market.

SADDAM TRIAL

Saddam and other codefendants were all present at the courtroom in Baghdad on Monday, while the defense team announced they would continue to boycott the trial.

Since judge Abdullah al-Amiri was replaced by Muhammed Ureybi for allegedly being biased toward the defendants, the defense lawyers have been boycotting, and the defendants were represented only by court-appointed lawyers.

During the session, four witnesses took the stand to tell the court harrowing stories from their Kurdish villages and their conditions at prison detentions.

A female witness who talked from behind a curtain told the court that the Iraqi forces attacked her village in the northern Kurdish region in April 1988, when she was 13 years old, and what happened to her family after they were detained.

She told the court that she saw an officer named only Hajaj torturing the women.

"I saw Hajaj tying two girls to the wall under a burning sun during a summer day," she said, adding "I know what happened to my family. They were buried alive."

The woman demanded the court to ask Saddam "why you did that to our women and children?"

Saddam and his cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as "Chemical Ali," as well as five former commanders face charges of genocide for their role in Anfal, which the chief prosecutor said left 182, 000 people dead or missing.

Editor:Sun Luying