JURIST - Paper Chase: Iraqi genocide trial continues with video of violence against Kurds

[JURIST] Prosecutors in the ongoing genocide trial [JURIST news archive; BBC trial timeline] of Saddam-era officials before the Iraqi High Tribunal [official website] introduced a videotape Sunday of executions and destruction of Kurdish homes during the "Anfal" campaigns [HRW backgrounder; JURIST news archive] of the 1980s, which claimed an estimated 180,000 Kurdish lives. Chief prosecutor Munqith al-Faroon said the video illustrated that Iraqi soldiers were not merely acting to suppress Kurdish rebels and that their conduct was not justified. The video showed executions and an Iraqi soldier firing his gun at dead bodies.

Testifying Sunday, former defense minister Sultan al-Tai said that the government compensated the Kurds who lost their homes during the campaign, and reiterated that he acted under military orders throughout his own involvement. In December al-Tai testified that only conventional weaponry was used [JURIST report] against the Kurds, and that any action he took was by order of his superiors. Al-Tai is one of six co-defendants facing crimes against humanity charges in connection with the Anfal attacks; Ali Hassan al-Majid [JURIST news archive, BBC profile], known in the Western media as 'Chemical Ali,' is now the leading defendant [JURIST report] in the trial following the December 30 execution [JURIST report] of Saddam Hussein. AP has more.

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