Saddam calls for reconciliation among Iraqis

Ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein appeared in a court on Tuesday after being sentenced to death by hanging for crimes in the Dujail case two days earlier, calling for reconciliation among Iraqis.

"I call on Iraqis -- Arabs and Kurds, to forgive, reconcile and shake hands," Saddam said in a separate trial for genocide against Kurds.

Saddam and six former commanders face charges of genocide for their roles in the 1988 Anfal (Spoils of War) military campaign against ethnic Kurds.

Prosecutors say that up to 180,000 Kurds had been killed, many of them by gas, in the campaign.

Source: Xinhua