Criminal Court resumes Merchant’s execution case

Iraq-Merchants BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The Iraqi Supreme Criminal Court on Tuesday resumed the trial sessions of the Merchants execution case (1992). Tareq Aziz, deputy premier of the former regime of Saddam Hussein and seven of his henchmen are being tried in this case. Chief Justice Raouf Abdul-Rahman Rasheed headed the session which began with listening to the defendants’ notes or demands. The court then listened to defendant Mezban Khedr Hadi. In 1992, Saddam Hussein ordered the execution of 40 Iraqi merchants, accusing them of destroying the national economy aggravated due to sanctions imposed on Iraq by the international community after the former regime invaded Kuwait in 1990. There are eight defendants in this case: Watban Ibrahim al-Hassan, who was the interior minister, Sabaawi Ibrahim al-Hassan, the director of the public security between 1991 and 1995, Ali Hassan al-Majid, Tareq Aziz, Mezban Khedr Hadi, who were members of the dissolved Baath party regional leadership in Iraq, Abdul Hamid Mahmoud, the presidency secretary, Ahmad Hussein Khudier, former finance minister, and Issam Rashid Houweish, governor of the Iraqi Central Baghdad between 1994 and 2003. SH (S)/SR 1