Saddam 'never killed Kurds'
2005-07-12 14:30
Vienna - Iran, and not Saddam Hussein, was responsible for the killing of tens of thousands of Kurds and Shiites, said a lawyer for the deposed Iraqi dictator in comments published on Tuesday.
Issam Ghazzawi, who was part of Saddam's defence team, told the daily Die Presse that "Iran is responsible for the murders of the Kurds" killed by poison gas in 1988.
The lawyer was quoted as saying: "Iraq did not possess poison gas at this time."
Ghazzawi reportedly said that Iran also was responsible for the mass killings of Shiites who rose against Saddam in 1991.
More than 100 000 Kurds were estimated to have been killed by Saddam's troops in 1988, including about 5 000 who were gassed to death in the Kurd city of Halabja and 8 000 members of a powerful clan who were reportedly rounded up and shot.
Up to 100 000 Shiites were killed, along with tens of thousands of Kurds, when Saddam moved to stamp out a rebellion after the first Gulf War in 1991.
- AP