Iraqi court begins Shiite uprising trial of Saddam aides

BAGHDAD (AFP) - 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 Shiite rebellion.

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

The trial will be the third to be held by the Iraqi High Tribunal (IHT) -- the court set up to probe crimes committed by the former regime -- and will see top officials of Saddam in the dock, including his cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid, widely known as Chemical Ali.

Majid -- a former defence minister known for his use of illegal chemical weapons -- has already been sentenced to death for his part in a genocidal 1988 campaign against northern Iraq's Kurdish minority.

Now the "1991 Intifada (Uprising) Trial" will probe how tens of thousands of Shiites 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.

Shiite rebels and many civilians were massacred in brutal crackdowns around the holy Shiite 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 Shiites were slaughtered.

Shiites, a minority in the Muslim world, make up 60 percent of Iraq's population and were ruled for decades by Saddam's Sunni-led regime.