”A curse on Saddam,” demanded relatives of victims of the 1982 Shi’ite massacre for which Saddam Hussein went on trial again on Monday, calling for a quick execution for the ousted Iraqi dictator.
But Saddam’s supporters also turned out in his hometown of Tikrit, blasting as unjust the trial of the once-all-powerful leader, who faces the death penalty if convicted on charges of crimes against humanity.
In the village of Dujail, where Saddam is accused of rounding up hundreds of Shi’ites and ordering them killed after an attempt on his life in July 1982, about 200 people took to the streets to denounce him.
”A curse on Saddam and Ba’athism,” said one banner as demonstrators held aloft pictures of their loved ones who were taken away and never seen again.
”We are calling for the execution of the dictator Saddam,” said another.
There was a higher security presence than normal in the town north of Baghdad, with increased checkpoints around the streets.
Similar demonstrations were held when the trial of Saddam and seven of his former cohorts first opened on October 19.
At the resumption of the trial on Monday, the court heard deathbed testimony from one of Saddam’s former top security officers about the massacre of 148 Dujail inhabitants.
Wheelchair-bound Waddah Ismail al-Sheikh said 400 people were detained in the village after an ambush against Saddam’s convoy.
Women, children and the elderly were rounded up, he said, with some of the alleged attackers killed immediately by Saddam bodyguards in orchards close to the scene of the attack.
Meanwhile, about 500 people demonstrated in Saddam’s hometown of Tikrit, north of Baghdad, in support of the former dictator.
Amid a heavy security presence, the demonstrators, including students, carried pictures of Saddam and promised to sacrifice themselves, ”blood and soul” for the former dictator.
United States military patrols could be seen in the area.
”Oh Arabs, the trial is unfair,” protestors shouted outside the town’s main mosque where they also poured scorn on the current Shi’ite-dominated government led by Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari.
”Jaafari’s people came back to Iraq in Iranian tanks,” some shouted, referring to the premier’s time in Iranian exile during Saddam’s rule.
A similar demonstration was held in the village of Awja, just outside Tikrit, where Saddam was born.
”No to Jaafari, no to the tribunal,” shouted residents, all of them Arab Sunnis favoured by Saddam’s toppled regime. — Sapa-AFP