World
September 19, 2005
Iran prepares indictment against Saddam
Iran has prepared a 20-page indictment, including charges of war crimes against former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported on Saturday.
"War crimes against humanity, crimes against citizens, inflicting damage on Iran's economic interests and citizens, are some of the charges Iran has included in its indictment," Deputy Attorney General Mohammad Ja'far Montazeri was quoted as saying.
Montazeri said that the charges were all based on international law, adding that the indictment would be presented to Judiciary Chief Mahmud Hashemi Shahrudi over the next few days after some necessary documents were collected.
The Iraqi authority has said that Saddam is to go on trial on Oct. 19 over charges of the 1982 killing of over 140 Shiites north of Baghdad.
On Sept. 5, Shahrudi slammed Iraqi prosecutors of the trial against Saddam for failing to include Iran's accusations related to the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war and also ordered to prepare an indictment against Saddam for his crimes during the war and to put it through legal channels.
Iran has been making efforts to sue Saddam for launching the 1980-1988 war and using chemical weapons against Iran since July 2004, when the then Iraqi interim government started the legal process against the former president.
Source: Xinhua
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