JURIST - Paper Chase: Saddam prosecutors show video of gas attacks as genocide trial continues

[JURIST] Prosecutors at the Iraqi High Tribunal [official website] showed video footage of the aftermath of the so-called "Anfal" campaigns [HRW backgrounder] as Saddam Hussein's genocide trial [JURIST news archive; BBC trial timeline] continued in Baghdad Tuesday. The footage included images of warplanes bombing ethnic Kurdish villages in Northern Iraq, families fleeing the attacks and the bodies of children killed by the chemical weapons. Hussein's defense has said that the military campaign was targeted at Kurdish insurgents who were suspected of aiding Iran during the 1980-1988 Iraq-Iran war.

Hussein and six co-defendants all face crimes against humanity charges for the Anfal attacks, and Hussein and co-defendant Ali Hassan al-Majid [BBC profile], known as "Chemical Ali," also face additional genocide charges [JURIST report]. Meanwhile, Hussein faces the death penalty after being convicted [judgment; JURIST report] on separate crimes against humanity charges relating to a crackdown in the Iraqi town of Dujail. That verdict is currently on appeal, and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Saturday that he hoped the appeal panel's ruling would be handed down in a few days and that Hussein would be executed next month [JURIST report]. AP has more.

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