Saddam Hussein and six co-defendants will be put on trial in August for the 1980s campaign that killed an estimated 100,000 Kurds in northern Iraq.

Iraq's High Tribunal said Tuesday the trial will begin on Aug. 21.

Evidence collected in Iraq by forensic experts is expected to be used in new cases against former leader Saddam Hussein.
(Ali al-Saadi/Associated Press)

The campaign referred to as Operation Anfal — after the Arabic word for "spoils of war" — was aimed at clearing the Kurdish population from near the Iranian border, where Saddam suspected local Kurdish militias had ties to Tehran. Entire villages were razed and their inhabitants either killed or displaced.

When announcing the charges in April, the tribunal characterized the raids as "savage military attacks on civilians," which included the use of mustard gas and other nerve agents.

Saddam and seven other co-defendants have been on trial since October for killing 148 Shia Muslims in the town of Dujail in retaliation for an attempt on Saddam's life in 1982.

Saddam listens as the prosecution begins giving its closing arguments on June 19 in the Dujail case.
(Associated Press)

The trial, which has been marred by the killings of three defence lawyers and the resignation of the chief judge, is in recess until next month. Defence lawyers are to present their closing arguments on July 10.

Saddam and the others could face death by hanging in the Dujail case. If he is sentenced to death, however, it is expected that all of Saddam's other trials would be completed before he is executed.

There is no overlap of defendants in the two cases. The six other defendants in the Anfal trial are:

• Ali Hassan Majid, Saddam's cousin
• Sultan Hashim Ahmad, former defence minister
• Saber Abdul Aziz al-Douri, former intelligence chief
• Farhan Mutlaq al-Jubouri, former top military commander
• Hussein al-Tikriti, former Republican Guard commander
• Taher Tafwiq al-Ani, former provincial governor