[JURIST] Documents showing Saddam Hussein's role in Iraq's 1987-1989 Anfal campaign [HRW backgrounder] against the Kurds are ready to be presented to the Iraqi High Criminal Court [official website; JURIST news archive], according to Jaafar Al Moussawi, the chief prosecutor in the Saddam Hussein trial [JURIST news archive], speaking to AFP Saturday. The Anfal campaign led to the deaths of more than 180,000 Kurds and the destruction of 4,500 villages, including the gassing of thousands of Kurds in Halabja [US State Dept. backgrounder] in 1988. Saddam is currently on trial for the 1982 massacre of 148 Shiite villagers in Dujail [JURIST report], and will later go on trial for the Anfal killings, if he is not convicted and hung in the Dujail trial first. The Anfal documents, as well as new Dujail documents, must undergo authentication by experts before they can be presented to the Court because Saddam and his co-defendants earlier questioned the authenticity of documents entered against them in the Dujail trial.

Saddam’s defense team recently added a female Saudi lawyer [JURIST report] - the second female on the defense team. His trial on the Dujail charge has been adjourned until April 5 [JURIST report]. AFP has more.