The hanging of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein two weeks ago has been big news recently. A lot of media attention has been given to his trial for the 1982 Dujail massacre of 148 Shi’ite Muslims, his ultimate conviction, and execution. A lot less attention, however, has been given to the other trial he was on - for the Kurdish Genocide. Saddam was responsible for the deaths of about 200 000 Iraqi Kurds in the late 1980s and displacement over a million more. Had his trial been allowed to run its course, Saddam almost certainly would have been convicted and sentenced to death. That will never happen now.
A lot of people speculated that the appeal ruling and execution from the Dujail conviction might be delayed to coincide with the end of the Kurdish Genocide trial. Apparently the Iraqi Government was just too impatient. Some might ask what it matters, since Saddam is dead now anyhow. The fact is that a dead man can’t stand trial and with Saddam’s execution all charges of genocide against him were dropped. I can’t help but be reminded of earlier this year when former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic died of natural causes in the Hague while on trial for genocide and other crimes against humanity. Milosevic had been the first sitting head of state indicted for war crimes. His death cheated the world and the people who suffered at his hands and sought justice.
Once again, another victimized people has been cheated of justice and closure by the untimely death of a dictator on trial. Once again, the world has been cheated of a precedent-setting legal decision against a former dictator and all of the doors to intervention and justice which could have been opened everywhere. Let’s hope that the Genocide trial goes forth without any more interference and that Hussein’s six former codefendants get what they deserve.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment