Trial of Saddam aides resumes
The trial of 15 former aides of executed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein for crimes against humanity over their alleged role in the crushing of a 1991 Shia rebellion resumed in Baghdad yesterday.
All 15 defendants -- including Ali Hassan al-Majid, widely known as "Chemical Ali" -- returned to the dock to hear more testimony from Shias whose relatives were allegedly beaten and murdered by Saddam's forces during the rebellion in southern Iraq.
The 1991 Intifada (Uprising) Trial is the third to be held by the Iraqi High Tribunal, the court set up with US help to probe crimes committed by Saddam's former regime.
Prosecutors charge up to 100,000 Shias were killed when Saddam loyalists put down the uprising by Iraq's majority community after his troops were defeated by US-led forces in Kuwait in the first Gulf War.
The trial began on Tuesday with testimony from two Shias who accused the defendants, mostly military men, of overseeing the demolition of their houses and the killing of their relatives during the days of the rebellion.
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