A pressure group backed by $3 million of US Congressional funding began an international campaign in London yesterday to indict President Saddam Hussein of Iraq.
The International Campaign to Indict Iraqi War Criminals (Indict) says its mission is to have Mr Saddam and 11 others - including his half-brother, Mr Barzan Al-Tikriti - tried for crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide. The campaign follows unsuccessful proceedings initiated by Indict a few days ago against Mr Tikriti, who, until recently, served as the Iraqi ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva.
Mr Tikriti, former head of Iraqi intelligence between 1979 and 1983, has returned to Iraq in the past few days for the first time in almost nine years. He is believed to be responsible for widespread acts of murder, torture, enforced disappearances, extra-judicial executions, arbitrary detention and rape.
The Indict chairwoman, Ms Ann Clwyd, a British Labour MP, said the group planned to push for the establishment of an ad hoc tribunal, similar to those in operation for Bosnia and Rwanda, a move backed by the UN Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan. The British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, has also pledged his support.
An Iraqi newspaper yesterday condemned the chief UN weapons inspector, Mr Richard Butler, for asking Iraq to hand over a document on its past arms programmes.
"Mr Butler is exaggerating when he asks for more documents, as if the work of the (UN) Special Commission (Unscom) depends on them," said Babel, owned by President Hussein's eldest son, Uday. The paper accused Mr Butler of "blackmailing" the Security Council by demanding Iraq hand over the document.
Mr Butler, chairman of Unscom, which is charged with dismantling Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, demanded Iraq hand over immediately a document detailing munitions used in Baghdad's 1980-1988 war with Iran, according to a weekend exchange of letters released on Monday.
Mr Butler, in one letter to Iraq's deputy prime minister, Mr Tariq Aziz, said Baghdad should surrender a copy of the document, seen in July but not given to inspectors at Iraq's Air Force headquarters, by November 30th.
There was no sign of the document being handed in by Monday but diplomats expected the pressure to continue.
Meanwhile, Iraq yesterday denied a US television report that it had violated UN sanctions by procuring long-range missile guidance systems from Romania. Gen Amer al-Saadi, an adviser to President Saddam Hussein, dismissed CNN's weekend report as an old story revived as part of a "hostile media campaign against Iraq". The network reported that Iraq tried in 1995 and 1998 to acquire sophisticated guidance systems from Romania in breach of UN embargoes imposed for its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.