Prisoners 'killed in batches'

2007-09-24 21:03

Baghdad - Saddam Hussein's notorious hatchet man "Chemical Ali" was accused on Monday of ordering villagers executed in batches of 25 at a time as he brutally crushed a Shi'ite rebellion in Iraq in 1991.

The latest accusation against Ali Hassan al-Majid came as he and 14 other former regime officials returned to the dock after a month-long break for their trial on charges of crimes against humanity.

Majid, Saddam's cousin, is due to be hanged following his conviction for genocide in a separate trial although the date of his execution is not known.

In the Shi'ite uprising trial, Majid and his co-defendants are accused of having overseen a bloodbath in which up to 100 000 people were killed by Saddam's security forces.

The slaughter came in March 1991 after Iraqi occupation troops were driven out of Kuwait by a US-led alliance in the Gulf War.

Majid had sought another adjournment, saying defence lawyers were too scared to attend the trial, but the trial judge ordered proceedings to continue.

Behind curtain

A witness, speaking from behind a curtain in the high-security Iraqi High Tribunal to conceal his identity, said his son was among those executed on March 25 1991 at a stadium near the southern port city of Basra .

A second son also detained when the army entered their village on March 15 was later freed and told him of the executions, the witness said.

"People were executed at a sports centre - there were about 200 executed. They were executed in batches - 25 at a time.

"Ali Hassan Majid was present for the execution of the first batch and then he told his guards to continue executing the others and he left," said the witness, who describing himself as "an old man".

The bodies were later found in a mass grave uncovered during excavations for a building project, he added.

Wasn't in Basra

Majid angrily responded that he wasn't even in Basra at the time.

"How can you say I executed people?" he demanded of the witness. "You were not there. You only heard, you did not see.

"How can you be so sure? I wasn't in Basra at all at that time."

Majid, looking gaunt and wizened, shuffled into the court leaning on a cane when proceedings began.

- AFP