Saddam trial on Kurds genocide possible next month

BAGHDAD - Saddam Hussein is expected to face trial as early as next month on charges of ordering genocide against Iraq's Kurdish population in the late 1980s, a prosecutor and a court official said.

They said an investigative judge was expected to hand the central case against the former leader over for prosecution this week. Saddam's lawyers will be notified that he could face trial for what is known as the Anfal campaign as early as next month.

"Within days the case will be moved to us," chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Moussawi told Reuters.

Saddam is currently on trial in connection with the killings of 148 Shi'ites in the town of Dujail after an assassination attempt on the former Iraqi president there in 1982.

The Anfal campaign of 1986-1989 is one of the most emotive cases against Saddam, who ruled Iraq with an iron fist for three decades before a US-led invasion toppled him in 2003.

Kurds say over 100,000 people were killed in systematic attacks that included ground offensives and air strikes. Thousands of Kurdish villages were razed and Arabs were used to displace Kurds.

Human Rights Watch estimates that more than 50,000 Kurds were killed during Anfal.

Saddam's co-defendants will include his cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid, who is known as "Chemical Ali", for leading the 1988 chemical gas attack on the Kurdish town of Halabja which killed 5000 people.

The court official said he expected the investigative judge to hand over the Anfal case to the prosecution in two days.

"After the case is studied the defence lawyers will be informed to prepare themselves for the case."

Moussawi suggested the court could be close to wrapping up the Dujail trial, which has been marred by the resignation of the chief judge, the killing of two defence lawyers, boycotts and tirades by Saddam, who faces hanging if found guilty.

"If there are defence witnesses we will listen to them and we will hear from Saddam again. Then the prosecution will make final arguments and a sentence will be handed down," he said.

It is not clear whether Saddam would face execution if found guilty in the Dujail case before the Anfal trial and others conclude.

Kurds, who are mostly non-Arab Sunni Muslims, enjoy a relatively stable semi-autonomous zone in northern Iraq free of the bloodshed gripping other parts of the country.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, was a former guerrilla leader who fought Saddam for decades.

- REUTERS