Saddam genocide trial resumes after 19-day break

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
The second trial of Saddam Hussein, on charges of genocide in connection with a crackdown on Kurds, resumed Monday after a 19-day hiatus with the former Iraqi leader in the courtroom. Saddam and six co-defendants face a possible death penalty for the killings of tens of thousands of Kurds during the Anfal campaign, a massive military assault in northern Iraq in the 1980s in which chemical weapons were used and residents were herded into prison camps. Saddam is still waiting a verdict on Oct. 16 in the first case against him - the nine-month-long trial over the killings of 148 Shiites in a 1980s crackdown on the town of Dujail. The Anfal trial, which began in August, is likely to take months as well. The campaign was on a far greater scale than the Dujail crackdown, with anywhere from 50,000 to 180,000 Kurds killed.