By Lauren Mellinger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East
BAGHDAD, Iraq – On December 27, the Iraqi High Tribunal commenced a new trial against several former Baathist officials, including former Iraqi Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz and Ali Hassan al-Majid, also known as ‘Chemical Ali’, on charges that they were involved in the persecution of political opponents while Saddam Hussein was in power. 20 other high-ranking members of Saddam Hussein’s government were also indicted.
The current charges allege that both Aziz and Al-Majid’s perpetrated crimes against humanity, including the arrest of nearly 250,000 members of Dawa and other political parties. Between 1981 and the 2003 US-led invasion, many of those arrested were either imprisoned or executed. In 1980, the Iraqi government banned the Dawa party and threatened to execute any members.
One incident included in the indictment, is the massacre in Balad in 1981, where the government arrested 1,135 Dawa members and their families and held them captive at a camp in the desert near the Saudi border. All men ages 15 years and older were executed, resulting in a death toll of 379. When the women and children were released in 1984, the government had confiscated their homes and property.
Prosecutor Mahdi al-Haddo cited other instances of the Hussein government’s persecution of Dawa members in his opening remarks to the court including, accounts of Dawa members being fatally poisoned, tied to dynamite, or thrown into vats of acid. Other allegations include the rape of the wives and daughters of Dawa party members.
According to al-Haddo, “We want to give a true depiction of crimes committed by the Saddamists against sons of Iraq in Balad. We must show people across the nation, especially those characterizing Saddam as an Arab nationalist and his government as a democracy.”
The Dawa Party is currently led by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. While many Iraqis, including relatives of the victims, welcome the new charges, critics claim that the timing of the trial is a political move by the Maliki government to increase their support among its core constituency – Iraq’s Shia population – before the upcoming provincial elections in January. These critics argue that the fact that several of the current defendants have previously been tried, convicted and sentenced suggests that the timing of the current trial is politically motivated.
Al-Majid has previously received two death sentences by the Iraqi court for his role in the gassing of Kurds in northern Iraq, which killed nearly 5,000 people, and for his role in suppressing a Shia uprising in 1991. Aziz was previously tried for his involvement in the execution of Iraqi businessmen for allegedly raising prices during the first Gulf War. Several of the other defendants are currently facing charges in other trials involving atrocities committed while serving in the Hussein government.
For more information, please see:
Alsumaria – New Charges Against Former Regime Officials – 29 December 2008
Azeri Press Agency – Former Saddam Hussein’s Associate’s Tariq Aziz and “Chemical Ali” Go on New Trial – 29 December 2008
BBC – Saddam Loyalists Face New Charges – 28 December 2008
NY Times – Ex-Hussein Officials and Others Go on Trial – 28 December 2008
Reuters – Iraq Tries Saddam Officials for Crushing Opponents – 28 December 2008
