Saddam trail witness feigned death to survive massacre

A witness in Saddam Hussein’s genocide trial in Baghdad today said he survived a massacre by feigning death when Iraqi soldiers shot at Kurdish detainees.

The witness, who testified from behind a curtain to conceal his identity, said he was one of dozens of prisoners who were taken in buses to an execution site in western Iraq in April 1988 during the crackdown by Saddam’s regime on the Kurdish population.

Saddam, who listened quietly as the witness spoke, and six co-defendants are charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity for their roles in the crackdown.

Saddam and one other defendant are also charged with genocide.

The witness said the prisoners knew they were going to be shot when they arrived at the killing site near Ramadi because they heard gunfire.

“The guards asked us to lie down on the ground and then they sprayed us with bullets. I felt no pain. I thought that maybe when the bullet pierces the body, one doesn’t feel the pain, but then I heard my cousin dying ... I pretended I was dead,” he said.