Saddam faces possible death sentence

Source: Xinhuanet | 10-19-2006 09:55

Iraqi former president Saddam Hussein's genocide trial against the Kurds in 1980s resumed on Wednesday during which Kurdish witnesses told the court how they survived a massacre by Saddam's death squad.

Wearing black suit and holding Quran, the holy Muslim book, Saddam entered the courtroom along with his six aides who believed to be involved in the Anfal military campaign.

On Wednesday's session, the first eyewitness for a mass grave for Kurdish people in western Iraq during the Saddam's crackdown on Kurds insurgency dubbed the Operation Anfal (Spoils of War),took the stand on condition of anonymity.

The witness, who gave the testimony behind a curtain for personal security reason, described how he and other Kurdish people were driven through unpaved roads to Iraq's western desert.

"We heard screaming and gunfire but it was far from us," he said, adding the detainees realized they would be shot dead.

"One of the detainees told us to recite the Shahada (Muslim declaration of faith) and ask for forgiveness as we are going to die in few minutes," he said.