Global Security Newswire

Iraq’s invasion of Iran in 1980 and its use of chemical weapons during the two countries’ eight-year war must not be forgotten as former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is prosecuted, Iranian officials said Sunday (see GSN, July 1).

“One of [the] crimes Saddam committed was his invasion of Iran and starting the war, killing many Iranian citizens and using chemical weapons in Halabja (within Iraq) and other places (in Iran) during the war,” said Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi, according to the Associated Press. 

“We have prepared [a] complaint and Iran will definitely file the complaint with the Iraqi court,” he said. “We will hand over our documents to the court. … We believe the court has to investigate Saddam’s crimes transparently and openly,” he added (Ali Akbar Dareini, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, July 4).

Among the seven charges filed against Hussein by the Iraqi Special Tribunal last week was the chemical bombardment of Halabja, according to the Washington Times. Additional charges can still be filed, said Salem Chalabi, the tribunal’s executive director.

“The hearing (last week) was one in which just some of the principal — though not exclusive — charges were laid out,” Chalabi said.

Victims of one chemical attack on the Iranian town of Sardasht are eager to have the former dictator answer for the action, the Times reported.

“The greatest aspect of this crime was the silence we heard from both Iran and the international community,” said Hossein Mohammadian a survivor of the Sardasht bombing and author of a book chronicling the attack. “If this court trying Saddam is to be a just and humane court and not be a tool for political and economic interests, it must include Sardasht,” he added.

“It’s been 17 years,” Mohammadian went on. “Even if the international community would just acknowledge what happened, we’d be grateful,” he added (Borzou Daragahi, Washington Times, July 6).