Global Security Newswire

Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was arraigned today in an Iraqi courtroom on several counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including the use of chemical weapons against Iraq’s Kurdish population in the late 1980s (see GSN, June 30).

The charges against Hussein also include the 1991 invasion of Kuwait, the crushing of Shiite Muslim and Kurdish uprisings, the killing of religious figures in 1974 and the killing of members of opposition political parties, the Post reported. In addition to Hussein, 11 other former top Iraqi officials are also set to be arraigned today.

During his arraignment hearing, Hussein rejected the charges being leveled against him.

“This is all theater. The real criminal is [U.S. President George W.] Bush,” Hussein said, according to initial pool reports (Chandrasekaran/Barbash, Washington Post, July 1).

Meanwhile, former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said yesterday that Iran should press charges against Hussein for the use of chemical weapons by Iraqi troops during the Iraq-Iran war of the 1980s.

“We must press charges in Saddam’s trial over the use of chemical weapons against people of our country,” Rafsanjani said.

The former Iranian president also said that by filing charges against Hussein, Iran would shed light on the support Iraq received from Western nations during the war.

“We faced severe chemical attacks at the beginning of the war when world powers were giving Saddam the green light to do anything to prevent Iran from winning,” Rafsanjani said. “We were confronted with merciless, cunning and deceitful enemies who today claim to defend human rights,” he added (Agence France-Presse/Pakistan Daily Times, June 30).