Saddam trial to start on Monday
The second trial of Saddam Hussein will begin on Monday, according to Raed Juhi, the chief-investigative judge for the Iraqi high tribunal.
The trial will be conducted while Baghdad is under curfew, making it difficult for the movement of people to and from the court.
Badi Arif, chief defence lawyer to Farhan Mutlak Al-Jaburi, Iraq’s former director of the military intelligence service in northern Iraq, told Aljazeera that court employees had been issued with special badges to enter the well-fortified Green Zone, where the tribunal is located, during the curfew, but that the defence team had not yet been issued with the necessary badges.
Seven people, including Saddam, his cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid, the former governor of northern Iraq, and Al-Jaburi are to face charges in the Anfal trial.
Charges will include genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The Anfal trial deals with the alleged mass murder of Kurds in northern Iraq in “the Anfal” operation in 1988. It is alleged that Iraqi forces used chemical weapons on several occasions during the operation.
The second Saddam trial follows the Dujail trial, which is in recess until October 19.
The Anfal trial is expected to be more challenging for the tribunal than the first trial as evidence from multiple crime scenes will be presented.
Arif said that Al-Jaburi had asked the court to summon Jalal Talabani, Iraq’s president, to testify in the case as he says that only Talabani will be able to give evidence to prove his innocence.
The trial will be heard by five judges.