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Saddam genocide trial to begin Aug 21

BAGHDAD, June 27, 2006 (AFP) - The trial of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein on charges including genocide for the Anfal campaign against Kurds in the 1980s has been set for August 21, the Iraqi High Tribunal said Tuesday.

"After the transfer of the investigation results of the Al-Anfal crimes to the criminal court... the tribunal decided on Monday August 21, 2006 as a trial date," the court said in a statement.

The court had announced in April that Saddam and six co-defendants including Ali Hassan al-Majid, also known as Chemical Ali, would face genocide charges over the Anfal campaign that left around 100,000 people dead.

Saddam and seven co-defendants are currently on trial for allegedly executing 148 inhabitants of the Shiite village of Dujail following an assassination attempt there against Sadddam in 1982.

They face execution by hanging if convicted.

Aside from Saddam, other defendants in the August trial include the so-called Chemical Ali, notorious for ordering the gassing of Halabja in 1988 which killed 5,000 people.

Others in the dock are expected to include former minister of defense Sultan Hashem Ahmed and high ranking Baathists Saber Abdel Aziz, Hussein Rashid al-Tikriti, Taher Mohammed al-Ani and Farhan al-Juburi.

A US official close to the court said in April that "the evidence that the court is going to look at involves voluminous amounts of documents, testimonies from a large number of victims and eyewitnesses and forensic evidence from mass graves that have been excavated."

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, himself a Kurd, has assured reporters that Saddam would be tried for all his crimes before any of the verdicts are implemented.