Iraqi court begins Shia uprising trial

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BAGHDAD - An Iraqi court on Tuesday begins the trial of 15 former aides to executed dictator Saddam Hussein for crimes against humanity during their alleged role in the crushing of a 1991 Shia rebellion.

Up to 100,000 Shias were allegedly killed when Saddam’s security forces, driven out of Kuwait by a US-led alliance but not destroyed, crushed a Shia uprising in a notorious bloodbath. snip

Now the “1991 Intifada (Uprising) Trial” will probe how tens of thousands of Shias were systematically killed by Saddam’s southern army after they rose up against his regime in 1991 in the wake of his defeat in the first Gulf War.

Shia rebels and many civilians were massacred in brutal crackdowns around the holy Shia cities of Najaf and Karbala and in the Hilla and Basra regions, after the US-led coalition decided to halt its offensive just inside Iraq.

Saddam’s forces used helicopter gunships — reportedly after US generals relaxed no-fly rules — and tanks to defeat the rebels, and estimates suggest that between 60,000 and 100,000 Shias were slaughtered.