The charges against Saddam

BAGHDAD- An Iraqi judge told former President Saddam Hussein on Thursday that he would face charges relating to seven alleged crimes committed over three decades.

Pool reporters given access to the heavily-guarded court said precise indictments would follow later. Here are the seven preliminary charges the deposed Iraqi leader faces.

Invading Kuwait, 1990

Miscalculating international reaction, Saddam Hussein orders his forces to invade Kuwait on Aug. 2, 1990. On Jan. 17, 1991, US-led coalition forces start Gulf War with air attacks on Iraq and occupied Kuwait after the deadline for an unconditional Iraqi withdrawal expires. Hostilities end on Feb. 28, 1991, after 100-hour ground war in which US-led coalition drives Iraqi forces from Kuwait.

Suppressing Kurdish and Shi'ite uprisings, 1991

Revolts erupt in the Kurdish north and mainly Shi'ite south following the end of the Gulf War. The uprisings are crushed by the Republican Guards, prompting hundreds of thousands of Kurds to flee to Iran and Turkey.

Anfal ethnic cleansing campaign against Kurds, 1987-88

The Iraqi government launches the al-Anfal (spoils of war) campaign to reassert its control over Kurdish areas in Iraq. Villages in targeted areas are demolished, agriculture destroyed and inhabitants forcibly moved to resettlement camps.

Gassing Kurdish villagers in Halabja, 1988

On March 16, 1988, Iraq attacks northern Kurdish town of Halabja. Chemical weapons are used to punish inhabitants for not resisting the town's capture by Iranian forces. An estimated 5,000 people are killed.

Killing political activists over 30 years

Killing religious figures, 1974

Killing thousands of the Kurdish Barzani clan, 1983

Iraqi security forces round up around 8,000 men and boys of the Kurdish Barzani clan in revenge for Kurdish collusion with Iranian forces in July 1983. They are believed to have all been killed. Leaders of the Barzani clan had allied the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) with Tehran during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.

Herald Feature: Iraq