Citizens agree on hanging Chemical Ali, differ on rest of defendants

Iraq / IraqiNews.com: A number of citizens from Basra, Tikrit, and Missan expressed belief that sentences issued by the Supreme Criminal Court against suspects in the 1991 al-Intifada al-Shaabaniya case are ‘just’, others considered them as ‘political’, and most of them agreed that Ali Hassan al-Majid, otherwise known as Chemical Ali, deserves the death sentence. “The death sentence issued against Ali Hassan al-Majid is considered as a strong slap on the face of those who perpetrated crimes against the Iraqi people. He was like Hitler and this is a just sentence,” Mustafa Karim, a Basrian citizen, told IraqiNews.com. Another citizen from Basra, Ali Salman, agreed with Karim, saying “it was a just sentence for what al-Majid perpetrated against hundreds of Iraqi people. Everyone watched him on television beating and killing citizens during al-Intifada.” For his part, Abdullah al-Jasem, retired brigadier from Tikrit, told IraqiNews.com, “the sentences have political aim to retaliate from the former army leaders.” Hussein al-Ubeid, a professor at the Tikrit University, said “we expect the sentences, however some sentences were surprise.” He pointed out that al-Tikriti deserves to die for killing hundreds of Iraqis. “Most of the suspects are military officers who implement orders and it is not logic to convict them for crimes made by politicians,” he explained. Udai Abdul Khaleq, a teacher from Missan, told IraqiNews.com “television helped citizens to follow the case,” noting that the case proved that Chemical Ali was the mastermind if several violations and killing operations against innocent Iraqis. “He deserves the life sentence,” he asserted. “This was a day of justice,” Abbas Fakher from Missan said. “Those who killed innocent people must be killed,” Fakher underlined. “It is a day of joy and victory for all Iraqis,” he pointed out. Last Tuesday, the Supreme Criminal Court sentenced to death Ali Hassan al-Majid, otherwise known as Chemical Ali; and Abdul Ghani Abdul Ghafour, a former Baath Party official, after found guilty in the 1991 al-Intifada al-Shaabaniya case. Life sentences were handed down against Ibrahim Abdelsattar Mohammed; Iyad Fatieh al-Rawi, former chief of staff and a Republican Guard commander; Hussein Rashid al-Tikriti, former assistant chief of staff; and Saber Abdul-Aziz al-Dori, the former chief of military intelligence. Other defendants in the case are Abad Hamid Mahmud, Saddam’s personal secretary; Sabaawi Ibrahim al-Hassan, former President Saddam Hussein’s half brother; Iyad Taha Shehab, a former intelligence chief; Latif Mahal Hamoud, former Basra governor; Walied Hamid Tawfiq al-Naseri; Sufyan Maher al-Tikriti, a former Republican Guard commander; Saadi Taama Abbas, the former minister of defense; Saber Abdul-Aziz al-Dori, the former chief of military intelligence; and Qays Abdul Razzaq Mohammed al-Adhami, the commander of the Republican Guard Hamourabi forces. The 1991 incidents, known in Arabic as the al-Intifada al-Shaabaniya, or the Shaaban uprising, were a series of rebellions in southern and northern Iraq in the aftermath of the Gulf War. The revolts in the predominantly Shiite cities of Basra and al-Nassiriya broke out in March 1991, sparked by demoralized Iraqi army troops returning from Iraq’s defeat in the Gulf War. Another uprising in the Kurdish areas of northern Iraq broke out shortly thereafter. Although they represented a serious threat to his regime, former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was able to suppress the rebellions with massive force and maintain power, as the expected United States intervention never materialized. The uprisings were eventually crushed by the Iraqi Republican Guard, which was followed by mass reprisals and intensified forced relocations. In few weeks, tens of thousands of civilians were allegedly killed. SH (R)/SR 1