Saddam trial sees graphic footage

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/middle_east/6193863.stm

Version 0 of 1.

Graphic video footage of dead Kurdish civilians allegedly killed in chemical attacks on their villages has been shown at Saddam Hussein's trial.

The footage also showed villagers fleeing clouds of white smoke after aerial attacks.

The former Iraqi leader and six others deny all the charges against them in connection with a campaign against Iraqi Kurds.

More than 100,000 people died in the al-Anfal campaign in the 1980s.

Saddam Hussein and his co-defendants are charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The ex-president and his cousin, Ali Hassan al-Majid, also face charges of genocide.

The defence argues it was a legitimate operation to quell a rebellion after some Kurds sided with the enemy during the Iran-Iraq war.

Prosecutor Munqith al-Faroon said the footage had been shot in several areas that were bombed with mustard gas.

Presenting footage showing dozens of dead children on the ground, Mr Faroon told the Baghdad court: "These children are the saboteurs that the defendants talk about."

'Special ammunition'

For the second day running, the prosecution presented Iraqi government memos that they said linked the defendants to chemical attacks.

Saddam's military intelligence chief has said the documents are forgedAn April 1988 document, apparently signed by defendant Sabir al-Douri, then director of military intelligence, and addressed to the presidency, said a "special weapon" had been used in the Anfal operation.

Another document, from the office of the chief of staff to field commanders, in August 1988, said: "We cannot miss this opportunity for the complete destruction and devastating of saboteurs in the north area."

Mr Faroon also showed the court a memo praising a Dutch businessman who was convicted in December 2005 for supplying Baghdad with banned chemical weapons.

Mr Douri has questioned the documents' authenticity.

He also argues that any "special weapons" were reserved for use against the Iranians.

Death penalty appeal

More than 70 witnesses have been heard in the Anfal trial, and the court is now considering documentary evidence.

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 following an assassination attempt against him 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.