Kurds seek damages from Saddam in US court
(AP)
Updated: 2005-10-19 11:52

Two Kurds living in the United States have sued Saddam Hussein in federal court, asking compensation for Kurds who were subjected to genocidal attacks in Iraq in the 1980s.

Hassen Ali Abdullah and Khalida Ali asked the court to award them and their children unspecified monetary damages from the deposed Iraqi president and one of his senior generals known as "Chemical Ali," Ali Hassan al-Majid, who also is named as a defendant.

The plaintiffs were identified in the lawsuit as San Diego County residents who lived in Iraq in the late 1980s. They asked the court to declare the suit, filed last week in San Diego, a class-action on behalf of all Kurds who lived in northern Iraq from 1987 to 1989 and any children born to them since 1987.

The lawsuit says some of the money would be used to pay for treating alleged exposure to chemical, radiological and biological weapons and to monitor the medical condition of affected Kurds in the future.

The federal Alien Tort Claims Act allows citizens of foreign countries to file lawsuits in U.S. courts for wrongs "committed in violation of the law of nations."

Debra Scheufler, an attorney who represents the Kurds in the lawsuit, did not respond to a telephone message Tuesday from The Associated Press.

There are more than 8,000 Kurds living in San Diego County, according to a San Diego group called Kurdish Human Rights Watch.

Saddam's trial for alleged crimes against fellow Iraqis was to begin Wednesday in Baghdad. His lawyer said Tuesday he would ask for a three-month adjournment, and challenge the court's competence to hear the case.