Hussein Trial Nears End of Witness Testimony

Only one witness remains to testify in the genocide trial of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, Agence France-Presse reported today (see GSN, Nov. 29).

Hussein and six other former Iraqi officials are accused of killing thousands of Kurds in 1988, including many by chemical weapons.

A witness today recounted finding his dead mother.

“I saw a woman lying on her face near a stream,” said Abdel Qader Abdullah, a former rebel who said he lost 22 family members to a chemical weapons attack.  “When I turned her over I discovered she was my mother.  I wanted to kiss her, but I knew I could be infected by the chemicals.”

Abdullah said he was able to rescue his wife and two others by injecting them with atropine.

The trial is expected to recess tomorrow and resume Wednesday, when the last of more than 70 witnesses is scheduled to testify.  The prosecution is then expected to begin presenting documentary evidence, AFP reported (Paul Schemm, Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Dec. 4).

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