Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 23, 2006, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press wednesday August 23, 2006 world a9 kurd weeps describing Poison Gas attack prosecution sets up Case in Saddam a genocide trial b Baghdad ? a kurdish woman testified yesterday in the Geno cide trial of Saddam Hussein breaking Down in tears As she described How foul smoke billowed across her Vil Lage in a 1987 Poison Gas attack and How her male relatives disappeared at a prison Camp. Najiba Khider Ahmed was one of two survivors who took the stand in the Sec Ond Day of Saddam a new trial Over the anal Campaign a military sweep across Northern Iraq in which tens of thousands of kurd were killed and hundreds of villages levelled. As the prosecution began to set up its Case with brutal accounts of children dying in Gas attacks and men dragged away never to be seen again the outlines of a Likely defence strategy began to emerge. Saddam and his lawyers repeatedly accused the survivors of being coached in their testimony. At the same time two of his six co defendants insisted that anal did not target civilians but aimed Only to wipe out kurdish guerrillas they said were helping Iran As the two coun tries waged War in the 1980s. Saddam and his co defendants could face execution by hanging if convicted in the anal Case. The ousted Leader also is awaiting a verdict on oct. 16 in the first Case against him ? the nine month trial Over the killings of 148 shiites in a 1980s crackdown on the town of Duvail. In that Case As Well he and seven other co defendants could face the death penalty. Ahmed and fellow anal survivor Ali Mostafa Hama described the april 16, 1987, bombardment of Sheik Wasan and the nearby Village of Basilan believed to be the first time Saddam a regime used chemical weapons against iraqi citizens. After the assault residents were rounded up into prison Camps and most of the men taken away on trucks and later executed they said. I saw eight to 12 jets. There was greenish smoke from the bombs Hama said. It was As if there was a Rotten Apple or garlic smell minutes later. Peo ple were vomiting. We were Blind and screaming. There was no one to Rescue us. Just Hama wearing a traditional kurdish headdress said he saw a Newborn baby die during the bombardment. The infant was trying to smell life but he breathed in the chemicals and died he said speaking in kurdish with an Ara Bic translator. Ahmed and Hama were testifying As plaintiffs in the Case. The trial was adjourned until today when More Plain tiffs will be heard. The 1987 to1988 military offensive was so notorious among the kurd that it entered their vocabulary. Ahmed and Hama often described relatives As hav ing been Ana lived ? referring to those who disappeared Only to be found later if at All in mass Graves. Ahmed wearing a Black Headscarf said she was blinded for Days by the Gas. At the prison Camp where she was kept for nine Days afterwards her three year old son was taken away. They Ana lived him she wept. May god Annalize she said her Niece also disappeared. Saddam and his Cousin Ali Hassan Al Majid a baath party Leader who allegedly organized anal Are charged with genocide ? widely considered the Tough est charge to prove. ? associated press Fishers say they prayed danced As boat drifted Mexico City ? three mexican fishermen said they Sang ballads danced and played air guitar As they drifted for months in an open boat across the Pacific surviving on raw fish caught with engine cables and drink ing Rainwater. They read the Bible aloud prayed ? and tossed Over Board the bodies of two dead companions they said starved to death. The mexican government said yesterday it will investigate the deaths and other aspects of the survivors account. Several Days after being rescued by an asian fishing boat the men seemed to be in remarkably Good health yesterday As they shyly appeared before mexican television cameras in the Marshall islands 8,850 kilo metres from their Home on Mexico a Pacific coast. Mexican news Media have cast doubt on the men a account of their nine month Odyssey suggesting they might be drug smugglers who made up the Story to avoid prosecution. There Are no records of their departure and some relatives initially said they had been gone for Only three months. There Are stories going around that you were ship Ping cocaine televise Anchor Carlos Loret de Mola told the men via satellite. Well no that in to True survivor Lucio Rendon said in an interview yesterday with televise. The fishermen said they know their tale is far fetched ? but insisted its True. They also said they never doubted they would live to Tell it. Their ordeal began they said oct. 28, 2005, in their Hometown san Blas when they set out with the boats owner and another Man on a shark fishing expedition they expected to last a few Days. Mother nature had other plans. A cold front swept in and a Strong wind dragged the boat out to sea they said. As the men struggled to turn toward islands they could see in the distance they ran out of Gas. They prayed to Drift Back to Mexico before their food and water ran out. Instead the prevailing cur rents apparently pushed their eight metre boat All the Way across the Pacific. With no shelter inboard the men protected themselves from the Sun with blankets and set about doing what they knew Best fishing. They crafted lines from cables and Hooks from Springs in the boats motor. We straightened them and made Hooks Rendon told televise. ? associated press 128 Adelaide St. 1530 Regent ave. 1504 St. Mary sri ;