Baghdad: Saddam Hussein's trial for the killing of 1,80,000 Kurds in the 1980s resumed on Monday with the late dictator's seat empty, nine days after he went to the gallows. The court's first order of business was to drop all charges against Saddam.
Six co-defendants still face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for their roles in a military campaign code-named Operation Anfal during the 1980-88 Iraq-Iran war.
Shortly after the court reconvened on Monday, a bailiff called out the names of the accused and the six men walked silently into the courtroom one after another.
Chief Judge Mohammed Oreibi al-Khalifa said the court decided to stop all legal action against the former president, since "the death of defendant Saddam was confirmed."
Saddam was sentenced to death for the killing of 148 Shiites and hanged on December 30 in a chaotic execution that has drawn global criticism for the Shiite-dominated government.
All seven defendants in the Anfal case, including Saddam, had pleaded innocent to charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Saddam and one other man also pleaded innocent to the additional charge of genocide.
The six remaining defendants, all senior members of Saddam's ousted regime, include his cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as "Chemical Ali" for his alleged use of chemical weapons against Iraqi Kurds.
The other defendants are former Defense Minister Sultan Hashim al-Tai, who was the commander of Task Force Anfal and head of the Iraqi army 1st Corps; Sabir al-Douri, Saddam's military intelligence chief; Taher Tawfiq al-Ani, former governor of Mosul and head of the Northern Affairs Committee; Hussein Rashid Mohammed, former deputy director of operations for the Iraqi Armed Forces and Farhan Mutlaq Saleh, former head of military intelligence's eastern regional office.
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