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KurdistanObserver.com
Iraq deputy PM Promises Kurds Trial In Halabja For
"Chemical Ali"
HALABJA, (Southern Kurdistan), Jan 22 (AFP) -
Ali Hassan al-Majid, a jailed cousin of Saddam Hussein, will be tried in Halabja,
at the scene of the crime that earned him the sinister nickname of 'Chemical
Ali', Iraq's deputy prime minister vowed on Saturday.
Speaking to Kurdish families whose relatives were gassed here in 1988, Barham
Saleh said: "We will bring you Chemical Ali, so that he can be tried in front of
the families of the victims of the gassing."
"The representatives of the Halabja victims should ask the next government to
allocate part of the Iraqi budget to the reconstruction of the town, in order to
allow its inhabitants to erase the scars of the gassing," he said.
On March 16, 1988, the forces of the then President Saddam Hussein dropped
chemical gas on Halabja, killing up to 5,000 peole, as part of a campaign to
crush a Kurdish rebellion.
The cases of Chemical Ali and former defence minister Sultan Hashem Ahmed
from the toppled regime were the first to be heard before the special Iraqi
tribunal last month.
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