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Saddam's genocide trial resumes | Saddam's genocide trial resumes |
(20 minutes later) | |
Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has appeared in court for the resumption of his genocide trial. | |
The deposed leader and six others are being tried in connection with a campaign against the Kurds in the 1980s in which more than 100,000 people died. | |
He was last in court on 6 December, having earlier threatened to boycott what he called his farcical trial. | He was last in court on 6 December, having earlier threatened to boycott what he called his farcical trial. |
Saddam Hussein is appealing against a death sentence in a separate trial over his crackdown on a Shia village. | |
On Monday, the prosecution submitted what it said was documentary evidence - a memo - allegedly linking Saddam Hussein to the use of chemical weapons against the Kurds in 1988. | |
Prosecutors said the memo from Saddam Hussein's office to the Iraqi military intelligence ordered a strike with "special ammunition". | |
Dujail appeal | |
Saddam Hussein and his co-defendants have pleaded not guilty to charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with the campaign codenamed al-Anfal, or "the spoils of war". | |
The defence argues it was a legitimate operation to quell a rebellion after some Kurds sided with the enemy during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. | The defence argues it was a legitimate operation to quell a rebellion after some Kurds sided with the enemy during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. |
Saddam Hussein and his cousin, Ali Hassan al-Majid, also face charges of genocide. | Saddam Hussein and his cousin, Ali Hassan al-Majid, also face charges of genocide. |
More than 70 witnesses have been heard in the Anfal trial. | More than 70 witnesses have been heard in the Anfal trial. |
Earlier this month, Saddam Hussein's lawyers lodged an appeal against his death sentence for crimes against humanity in a separate case. | |
Saddam Hussein was sentenced to death in November over the killing of 148 people in the mainly Shia town of Dujail in 1982. | |
Judges also passed death sentences on Saddam's half-brother Barzan al-Tikriti and Iraq's former chief judge Awad Hamed al-Bandar. | |
A panel of nine judges will now review the verdict, which has been criticised by human rights groups as flawed. |