The Hindu : International : Trial of Saddam to open with charge of Dujail massacre

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Wednesday, Jun 08, 2005

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Trial of Saddam to open with charge of Dujail massacre

Rory Carroll

Availability of documents and witnesses bolsters prosecutors' case

BAGHDAD: A little-known massacre at a village where residents tried to assassinate Saddam Hussein in 1982 will be the focus of the first case in the trial of the former Iraqi President, it emerged on Monday.

Dozens of people were killed in reprisal after the President's convoy was fired on as it drove through Dujail, a predominantly Shia farming village 65 km north of Baghdad.

Though the incident happened almost 25 years ago, the availability of documents and witnesses willing to testify has emboldened prosecutors to make it the opening case in the trial.

Chemical attacks

The special tribunal set up to try Mr. Hussein and his top aides will start hearings within two months, and Dujail will be the first of up to 14 cases against the former leader, a Government spokesman said on Monday. The other cases include chemical attacks against Kurds in the late 1980s, the invasion of Kuwait in 1990 and the suppression of a Shia uprising in 1991.

Branded by opponents as an Arab Stalin for the scale of his alleged crimes, Mr. Hussein's legacy in Dujail had been just a footnote in history books. Locals hostile to his Ba'athist regime set up an ambush after a tip-off that his convoy would pass through the area. They fired on the vehicles and apparently killed several guards but failed to wound the President.

Within hours, security forces arrived to wreak vengeance. Some versions put the final death toll as high as 400, including women, children and babies. —

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