English Translation of Anfal Cassation Panel Opinion, October 2008

On September 4, 2007, the Iraqi High Tribunal Appellate Chamber issued a twenty-eight page decision in the “Anfal Campaign Case,” rejecting the various grounds for appeal and upholding the convictions of “Chemical Ali” (Ali Hassan al-Majid) and five other military leaders of Saddam Hussein’s regime of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes related to their roles in a three-year crackdown of northern Iraqi Kurds known as the Anfal campaign. The Iraqi High Tribunal and Regime Crimes Liaison Office have provided the English Translation of the Anfal Campaign Appellate Chamber Opinion to Case Western Reserve University School of Law to post on the Grotian Moment Website for world wide access. This is the only place on the internet that the English Translation of the Opinion is available. The Opinion, which includes a detailed analysis of the defendant’s culpability for genocide, is of special significance because, aside from the Nuremberg Tribunal and Rwanda Tribunal, this is the only other war crimes tribunal to convict persons of the offense of Genocide, the worst crime known to humankind.