[JURIST] The Iraqi High Tribunal (IHT) - formerly known as the Iraqi Special Tribunal [official website] - has approved the disinterment of bodies buried in mass graves [AHR backgrounder] southwest of Baghdad, where forensic experts worked over the weekend to unearth alleged victims of a suppressed 1991 Shiite uprising [Washington Post backgrounder] encouraged by the US that occurred in the aftermath of the Gulf War. The Iraqi court ordered the latest exhumations as it gathers evidence against former members of the regime of Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive] that might be used in a new trial after current proceedings focused on the 1982 execution of 148 Shiites in Dujail [JURIST report] are concluded.

Documents gather by the tribunal indicate that over 100,000 people were killed in the 1991 rebellion and its aftermath; other evidence in the tribunal's possession puts the figure as high as 180,000. AFP has more.