Baghdad:  One of Saddam Hussein's best-known lieutenants accuses the Shiite-led government of seeking revenge today during a trial over the 1992 executions of dozens of Baghdad merchants.

Tariq Aziz told an Iraqi court, which resumed hearing the case against him and seven co-defendants, that he was proud of being a member of Saddam's Sunni-dominated Baath party and serving under the former dictator.

But chief prosecutor Adnan Ali said Aziz and his co-defendants, who include Saddam's ailing cousin known as "Chemical Ali," were responsible for the merchants deaths and urged the court "to issue the suitable punishment that will ease the hearts of widows and oppressed ones."

The trial deals with the execution of 42 merchants accused by Saddam s government of being behind a sharp increase in food prices when the country was under strict UN sanctions.

The merchants were rounded up over two days in July 1992 from Baghdad s wholesale markets and charged with manipulating food supplies to drive up prices at a time when many Iraqis were suffering economically. All 42 were executed hours later after a quick trial.

The first witness, Abdul-Amir Jabbar Nadir, described how his father and brother who traded in foodstuffs at Baghdad s popular Jamila market were killed after they were seized on July 24,1992,during the roundup.

"The security forces first tied the merchants to the electricity posts, saying they were greedy merchants, spit on them and then put them all of them on a minibus," Nadir said. "There were workers, clerks and other employees among them - not all of them were merchants."

Source : PTI