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Saddam trial hears bomb evidence | |
(about 9 hours later) | |
The trial of Saddam Hussein and six others on charges of genocide has resumed after a three-week break. | |
A former Kurdish guerrilla told the Baghdad court of the deadly aftermath of an alleged chemical attack carried out by Saddam Hussein's Iraqi forces. | |
Katherine Elias Mikhail described how people fell to the ground, vomiting and in pain, after a bombing raid in 1987. | |
The prosecution alleges that up to 180,000 civilians were killed during the Anfal campaign against Iraqi Kurds. | |
Saddam Hussein was present in court along with his cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid. Both men are accused of genocide. | |
Vomiting | |
Giving evidence, Ms Mikhail told the court she was a Kurdish peshmerga guerrilla in the Kurdish areas of northern Iraq when Iraqi forces bombed the mountainous region with chemical weapons. | |
Now a writer who lives in the US, Ms Mikhail denounced Saddam Hussein and Mr Majid - whose nickname in Iraq is Chemical Ali - as those responsible for the campaign. | |
She also criticised the international companies which she said had provided the Iraqi regime with chemical weapons. | |
Challenged by Mr Majid, Ms Mikhail described how planes carrying chemical bombs attacked peshmerga bases and Kurdish villages. | |
"I saw hundreds of people - not dozens but hundreds. They were vomiting and their eyes were watering," she said. | |
Awaiting sentence | |
The trial was adjourned until Tuesday. | |
All the defendants face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. They could face the death penalty if convicted. | All the defendants face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. They could face the death penalty if convicted. |
Saddam Hussein and seven other defendants have already been tried for the killing of 148 Shias in Dujail in 1982. | |
A verdict is due in October. | A verdict is due in October. |