June 24, 2007	Sunday	Jamadi-us-Sani 08, 1428

BAGHDAD, June 23: The Iraqi High Tribunal is set to give its verdict on Sunday on six former aides of Saddam Hussein accused of slaughtering 182,000 Kurdish villagers during a 1988 military campaign in northern Iraq.

Ahead of the judgement, the defence team appealed to United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon to stop the trial which it said was marred by “errors”.

The most prominent defendant is Ali Hassan al-Majid, a cousin of Saddam who is widely known as “Chemical Ali” for allegedly ordering the killing of tens of thousands of Kurdish villagers with chemical gas strikes.

He faces a charge of genocide, while the five others in the dock are accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

They include Sabir al-Duri, former director of military intelligence; Sultan Hashim al-Tai, a former defence minister; Hussein Rashid al-Tikriti, former armed forces deputy chief of operations; Farhan al-Juburi, a former military intelligence commander; and Taher al-Ani, former governor of the main northern city of Mosul.—AFP