The Charges

The Iraqi government announced this month that Saddam Hussein would face 12 charges of crimes against humanity.

This is despite the fact that there are more than 500 confirmed cases against him.

Leith Kubba, an Iraqi government spokesman, is quoted as saying:

"The 12 chosen charges are more than enough to give him the maximum sentence applicable,".

Six of the twelve charges relate to the most barbaric incidents during the Hussein regime. These are:

• The execution of more than 145 Iraqis in 1982 in Dujail



• The murder, by gassing, of nearly 5,000 people in the Kurdish town of Halabja in 1988



• The execution of political and religious leaders during the 35 years in power



• The killing and deportation of more than 10,000 members of the Kurdish Barzani tribe



• The 1991 suppression of a Shi'ite uprising in southern Iraq



• The illegal occupation of Kuwait in 1991