HALABJA, Iraq – Hundreds of Kurds danced in the streets Sunday, celebrating the news that former general Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as “Chemical Ali,” and two other regime officials had been sentenced to hang for massacring up to 180,000 Kurds two decades ago.
Two other defendants were sentenced to life in prison for their roles in the 1987-88 crackdown, the so-called Anfal campaign.
During the trial, numerous witnesses testified about the horrors of the Iraqi military’s scorched-earth campaign against the Kurds, military planes dropping poisonous chemicals that blinded and burned them, men being tortured and executed in concentration camps, women being raped, and thousands of towns being leveled. Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced.
The defendants insisted they were defending the nation against Kurdish guerrillas who had sided with Iran during the bloody eight-year war.
Al-Majid – Saddam Hussein’s notorious cousin – received five death sentences for ordering the use of deadly mustard gas and nerve agents against the Kurds.
“Now I bring my family good news that Chemical Ali is to be hanged for killing them, thus their spirits will rest in peace,” said Kamal Hawramani, 37. “Kurds are a strong people and not easy to break.”
Hussein had been a defendant in the case but was executed last year for ordering the killings of 148 men and boys from the town of Dujail, 35 miles north of Baghdad, after a failed assassination attempt against him there in 1982.
Some Kurds said after Sunday’s hearing, which was nationally televised, that they felt deprived of justice because of the rush to execute Hussein. The government had hoped his quick death would allow Iraqis to put the past behind them and focus on transforming the country into a functioning democracy.
“I wished they had kept Saddam alive and had not executed him until they finish all the trials, so all Iraqis, including Kurds, could feel that they had been repaid for the injustices of his regime,” said Saman Mahmood Aziz, 55, a teacher whose wife and five children died during the Anfal campaign.
But he added, “We feel so happy after seeing the verdict today against Chemical Ali.”
But Sukaina Taqi Khurshid al-Hamawandi 69, who lost 19 family members, including five sons, in the campaign, said: “I do not feel happy today for the verdict against my sons’ murderers. This will not bring my family back.”
Also sentenced Sunday to hang were Hussein Rashid al-Tikriti, 66, former armed forces deputy chief of operations, and Sultan Hashim al-Tai, 67, a former defense minister.
When the chief judge finished listing al-Tikriti’s three death sentences and announced a seven-year sentence for attacking religious buildings, al-Tikriti laughed.
Two defendants in the Anfal case received multiple life sentences: Farhan al-Jubuiri, a former military intelligence commander in northern Iraq, and Sabir al-Duri, former director of military intelligence. In reading the verdict, the chief judge said the court took into consideration al-Duri’s expressions of regret.
Taher al-Ani, 70, the former governor of the northern city of Mosul, was acquitted because of a lack of evidence.
The death sentences will automatically be sent to Iraq’s Appeals Court. The appeals process can be swift: Hussein was convicted of war crimes on Nov. 5, lost his appeal on Dec. 26, and was hanged four days later.
Associated Press
Rubbar Mohammed visits the Halabja, Iraq, grave of her family members who were killed in a chemical attack ordered by Saddam Hussein’s forces. Ali Hassan al-Majid, also known as “Chemical Ali,” was sentenced to death Sunday for his role in the massacre of Kurds in the late ’80s.
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