Iraqi court acquits former top aide to Saddam Hussein (But "Chemical Ali" Found Guilty)

Herald Tribune ^ | 3-2-09 | Steven Lee Myers

[icwhatudo]

Iraq's special criminal court Monday acquitted Tariq Aziz, the man who once served as the urbane, cigar-smoking public face of Saddam Hussein's rule, delivering the most significant not-guilty verdict in a series of prosecutions for crimes against humanity that occurred before the U.S. invasion in 2003.

Aziz, who will turn 73 next month, remained in custody, facing charges in two other cases. Only hours after his acquittal, he appeared before another judge to defend himself against charges that he was involved in a massacre of Kurds in 1983.

Even so, the verdict - the first in a case against him - was viewed as a sign of judicial fairness and independence for a controversial tribunal that has been deliberating the most heinous crimes of the Saddam era.

Aziz, who served as foreign minister of Iraq during the invasion of Kuwait in 1990 and as Saddam's deputy prime minister during the U.S. invasion in 2003, was acquitted of culpability in a brutal crackdown against Shiite protesters that followed the assassination of a revered cleric, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed al-Sadr, in 1999.

The court convicted Ali Hassan al-Majid, a former aide known as "Chemical Ali" for ordering poison gas attacks against the Kurds in the 1980s, for his role in those killings, sentencing him to death for a third time.

[icwhatudo]

Im hoping the “not guilty” on Aziz in this matter only is to establish the courts as “independent” so that when the killing of the Kurds comes up- Aziz is found guilty and hanged and the libs can’t say the courts were not independent.

[Oldpuppymax]

Ali was sentenced to death for a third time? What is that, the charm? Or have these guys learned so well from the US system that lawyers can’t make money if the defendant is already executed.

[Timocrat]

What is that, the charm?

Maybe they get two practice runs at it to make sure it works the third time.