The Dujail massacre

Saddam Hussein was convicted over the killing of 148 people in the mainly Shia town of Dujail following an assassination attempt on him in 1982.

Saddam Hussein was convicted over the killing of 148 people in the mainly Shia town of Dujail following an assassination attempt on him in 1982.

In July that year, furious at Hussein’s execution of a revered Shiite leader, a hit squad of local residents carried out the first serious attempt on his life, raining bullets on the presidential motorcade as it drove past.

The Iraqi leader survived unscathed, but in the savage state-sanctioned reprisals that followed, hundreds of Dujail residents were indiscriminately arrested, tortured, jailed and killed.

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Compared to some of the other atrocities Hussein ordered, such as the massacre of tens of thousands of Shi’ites after the 1991 rebellion in southern Iraq, the case is relatively small. The reason it is being fast- tracked is simple: It is one of the few instances in which witnesses have survived to tell the tale.

After years of keeping their mouths shut, the survivors formed the Dujail Free Prisoners’ Association, and compiled a photo montage of those who died or disappeared.

The case also has a powerful resonance for many important figures in the current Iraqi administration.

Three men who allegedly orchestrated the massacre are Hussein’s co-defendants in the case: his half brother and former intelligence chief, Barzan Tikriti; former vice-president Taha Yassin Ramadan; and Awad Haman Bander Sadun, the former chief judge of the Revolutionary Court that sentenced 143 men from Dujail to death.

A court in Antwerp passed the order initiating the formal process of bringing Choksi back to India. But, he still has options to challenge the order passed by the lower court.

Belgian court clears fugitive jeweller Mehul Choksi’s extradition to India

India3 hr ago

Mehul Choksi, a fugitive diamantaire wanted in India for a Rs 13,000 crore loan fraud case, has been cleared for extradition by a court in Antwerp, Belgium. The Indian government has assured that Choksi will be held in a specific jail complex and provided with basic amenities if extradited. Choksi's extradition proceedings have advanced in Belgium and he has the option to challenge the order.

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