Iran sues Saddam

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Iran sues Saddam
From correspondents in Iraq
May 28, 2006
IRAN has filed a lawsuit against ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein for his regime's 1980s war against Teheran, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said in a joint statement with his Iraqi counterpart.

"The two sides, noting the crimes committed by Saddam Hussein's regime in its aggression against the people of Iraq, Iran and Kuwait, confirmed the need to seek justice for that," the statement read.

"To this end the Iranian Republic has passed on to the foreign ministry of Iraq a complaint against Saddam and his agents for examination by the Iraqi High Tribunal", where Saddam already faces charges of crimes against humanity, the statement added.

The document did not list any specific charges Iran wished to bring against Saddam or any of his aides.

Relations between Iran and Iraq, which fought a bloody war from 1980-1988, have improved dramatically since the fall of Saddam and the coming to power of Iraq's long disenfranchised Shi'ite majority - many of whose leaders once sought refuge in Iran.

The ex-President and seven co-defendants are on trial for the 1980s killing of nearly 150 Shi'ite villagers in Dujail, after a botched assassination attempt was carried out in the village against Saddam.

Mr Mottaki was in Baghdad yesterday pledging his support for Iraq's new Government and promising to aid its reconstruction effort.

The Iranian diplomat went to the Shi'ite holy city of Najaf, south of the capital, today to pray in the Imam Ali shrine, one of Shi'ite Islam's holiest sites.

He visited a number of religious leaders, including Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who have a great deal of influence on Iraqi politics.