However cruel, would you call such punishment of 42 unlucky rascals “a crime against humanity”? I guess most sane people wouldn’t go that far. Yet, things are different if you are a US-supervised Iraqi court that must somehow punish a Saddam-era celebrity.
This is the case of Tariq Aziz, a well known figure in Saddam’s regime, who was surrendered to the US ‘coalition forces’ in 2003, shortly after Baghdad’s fall (the US military reciprocated by flying his family to the safety of Jordan -Timesonline). Aziz has been in detention without any conviction for almost 6 years. A few days ago, he was once again brought to court with some other Saddam’s aids and relatives; this time, the mouse was cought!
Let the mainstream news outlets tell you the story as they see fit:
Deutche Welle: “Two relatives of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein have been sentenced to death for their roles in the killings of 42 merchants in 1992. The traders were executed after being accused of raising the prices of goods in breach of state price controls at a time when Iraq was under United Nations economic sanctions over its 1990 invasion of Kuwait. The judge at a Baghdad court said the two were guilty of crimes against humanity. Former deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz was also sentenced in connection with the event, but received a jail term.”
Deutsch Welle does not specify the length of Aziz’s jail term. CNN News is more illuminating in that ‘little’ detail, but quite vague about the basis of the sentence: “The men were sentenced for their roles in the 1992 execution of 42 merchants.” –not a single word about why those merchants were executed.
BBC News does cite the 15-year sentence and a few details about the summary trials of the 42 black marketeers. However, the term “crimes against humanity” is omitted, perhaps realizing the absurdity of such allegation.
It is interesting to note that all the news reports use the term ‘merchants’ to describe the 42, not ‘black marketeers’. But the issue here is not how the big media present the news. It is the fact that victor’s justice labels minor incidents like the swift trial of 42 crooks as “crimes against humanity”. It is distressing to see this over-used term becoming cheaper and weaker, drawing attention from other -more sinister and real- global crimes…
BTW, in case you are suspicious about the way Saddam’s Iraq has been portrayed by the brain-washers, you might like to check this
-it's a long page, so use Find: Iraq to jump to relevant parts.
-it's a long page, so use Find: Iraq to jump to relevant parts.
