Saddam prosecutor to present evidence on campaign against Kurds News
Saddam prosecutor to present evidence on campaign against Kurds

[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.

THIS DAY @ LAW

US Supreme Court ruled Indians not US citizens

On November 3, 1884, the US Supreme Court ruled in Elk v. Wilkins that John Elk, an American Indian who had tried to vote in a federal election in Omaha, Nebraska, was not a US citizen entitled to the protection of the 14th and 15th Amendments of the US Constitution. Native Americans became eligible for citizenship in 1887 under the Dawes Act, but only in 1924, under the Indian Citizenship Act, were all Native Americans born in the US made citizens.

Last public execution at Tyburn Gallows in London

On November 3, 1783, the last public execution took place at Tyburn Gallows in London, when John Austin was hanged for highway robbery. From the hanging of William Fitz Osburn in 1196 until Austin's execution, Tyburn served as London's primary location for public executions.

Learn more about the trial of John Austin.