Iraqi High Tribunal sets fifth trial date

BAGHDAD, June 12 (UPI) -- The fifth trial by the Iraqi High Tribunal begins July 21 in the 1999 assassination of Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr.

Gunmen loyal to former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein assassinated Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr, the father-in-law of the anti-American cleric Moqtada Sadr, Feb. 18, 1999. A Shiite uprising followed the event, with dozens killed or wounded by Iraqi security forces.

Iraqi High Tribunal spokesman Munir Hadad said the court set a trial date for July 21 to bring the perpetrators to justice, the Iranian English-language Press TV said Thursday.

Among the defendants are former Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz, the half-brother of Saddam, Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan and Ali Hassan al-Majid, known better as "Chemical Ali."

Aziz, Majid and six other co-defendants currently face charges in the Iraqi High Tribunal on war crimes for the execution of 42 businessmen in 1992 who protested rising food prices in the wake of U.N. sanctions of the former regime.