Kuwait City – Kuwait wants former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and his detained former aides sentenced to death for alleged crimes committed during Iraq’s 1990 invasion of this oil- rich state, a Justice Ministry official said Sunday.
Kuwait, which was occupied for seven months before being liberated during the U.S.-led 1991 Gulf War, has completed a file detailing the charges it wants Iraqi authorities to try Hussein on, Kuwaiti Justice Minister Ahmed Baqer was quoted as saying by Kuwait’s state-run news agency, KUNA.
“Asking for the death penalty is based on numerous crimes committed by the former Iraqi regime,” Baqer said late Saturday, becoming the highest-level Kuwaiti official to call for Hussein’s execution.
Hussein, who was captured in December 2003, and several former members of his regime are to stand trial Oct. 19 in the Iraq Special Tribunal on charges of ordering the 1982 massacre of about 150 Iraqis in Dujail, north of Baghdad.
Iraqi authorities also have accused Hussein of killing rival politicians during his 30-year rule, gassing Kurds, invading Kuwait and suppressing Kurdish and Shiite uprisings in 1991 after the Gulf War that liberated Kuwait.
