original story: G00436

Iraq in July

Iraq's Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari met with Iranian leaders in Tehran, the first visit there by an Iraqi premier since the two countries severed relations in 1980 at the beginning of war between the two countries. Al-Jaafari, an Iraqi Shi'ite, spent more than a decade in exile in Iraq while fighting Saddam's forces. Since the fall of Saddam, many observers had blamed Iran for supporting Shi'ite sectarian terrorism in Iraq and allowing the unfettered movement of terrorists into the country, and Iran had also been accused of backing the revolt of the Shi'ite rebel leader Moqtada al-Sadr. Since Saddam's fall in 2003, Iraq had tried to get closer to Iran and heal the scars left by the 1980-88 war that killed more than 1 (m) million people on both sides.

456169

AP Television News

Tehran, Iran - 16 July 2005

Various of al-Jaafari and Aref at reception ceremony

Al-Jaafari and Aref giving news conference

Close up of Aref

Close up of al-Jaafari

456270

AP Television News

Tehran - 18 July 2005

Ibrahim al-Jaafari, Iraqi Prime Minister and Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, Iran's President-elect in talks

In mid July, a string of major insurgent bombings more than 120 people in four days. One of the attacks was at Mussayib, a religiously-mixed town along the Euphrates River south of Baghdad. As residents of the town walked to evening prayers, a suicide bomber detonated explosives strapped to his body near a mosque, killing more than 60 people. Witnesses said a fuel tanker in the town caught fire and spread the damage to several houses and shops. Mussayib in the "triangle of death," an area so-named because of the large number of kidnappings and killings of Shiite Muslims traveling between Baghdad and the Shiite holy cities of Karbala and Najaf.

456206

AP Television News

Mussayib - 17 July 2005

Various of damaged vehicles at bomb scene

A judge announced details of the first case against the former dictator Saddam Hussein. Raid Juhi, chief judge of the Iraq Special Tribunal, said Saddam and three other men would stand trial for the July 1982 massacre of Shiite villagers at Dujail, 50 miles north of Baghdad. The massacre of over 140 men and young boys was in retaliation for an assassination attempt on Saddam as he visited the village. The three accused along with Saddam include his half-brother and former intelligence chief Barazan Ibrahim; former Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan; and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, a Baath party official in Dujail. If convicted, all four men could receive the death penalty.

456232

Pool

FILE: Baghdad - 1 July 2004

Close up Saddam Hussein talking in interrogation video

AP Television News

Baghdad - 17 July 2005

SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Judge Raid Juhi, chief judge of the Iraq Special Tribunal:

"With the completion of the investigative procedures, the accused Saddam Hussein Majid, Barazan Ibrahim al-Hasan, Taha Yassin Ramadan, Awad Hamed al-Bandarand, and others deemed to be their accomplices, have been indicted to be tried by the Trial Chamber under clauses (1), (4), (6) and (9) of Article 12 (a) of the Statute of the Iraqi Special Tribunal, which deal with crimes against humanity, and in accordance with Article 15 of the Statute. With this announcement, the IST has raised this historical trial to a new level on the basis of legal evidence as the Trial Chamber judges will determine the date of the beginning of the trials in the next few days."

Pool

FILE: Baghdad - 1 July 2004

Wide shot Saddam Hussein being interrogated by Judge Juhi

Iraq in August

Insurgent sabotaged Iraq's national power grid in August, cutting electricity to swathes of central and southern Iraq, including Baghdad and Basra. The power cuts put a temporary halt to the loading of oil onto ships at the port of Basra -- the main export terminal for Iraqi oil since insurgent attacks had forced the northern oil pipeline to Turkey to close earlier in the year. An Iraqi official said insurgents had collapsed a pylon onto a major electricity line between Beiji and the capital.

459530

AP Television News

Basra - 23 August 2005

Wide shot of South Oil Company

Sign reading "South Oil Company"

Various of fire from oil refinery

Man closing oil production lines

In late August, negotiators at the Iraqi National Assembly announced they had agreed a draft constitution to be voted-on in a referendum in October. But Sunni leaders urged their community to vote against the charter, saying it had been rammed through the drafting committee by the dominant Shiite Arab and Kurdish alliance. Sunni negotiators delivered their rejection in a joint statement shortly after the draft was submitted to the assembly. They branded the draft version as illegitimate and asked the Arab League and the United Nations to intervene against the document. In Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, and in the city of Ramadi west of Baghdad, thousands of people marched to denounce the proposed constitution. But in Kut province, 120 miles (190 kilometres) south of Baghdad, more than two thousand Shiite demonstrators took to the streets to voice their support for the document.

460039

AP Television News

Tikrit - 29 August 2005

Demonstrators marching and applauding

Demonstrators marching and chanting

Demonstrator holding picture of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and chanting pro-Islam slogans

460133

AP Television News

Ramadi - 30 August 2005

Demonstrators carrying pictures of Moqtada al-Sadr (Shiite cleric) his father and former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein chanting (in Arabic) "No to the constitution."

Pictures and placards reading (in Arabic) "No to federalism."

Kut - 29 August 2005

Wide shot of pro-constitution demonstration

Demonstrators carrying pictures of Shiite clerics Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, chanting pro-constitution slogans

Rumours that a suicide bomber was in the crowd at a Shi'ite religious procession in Baghdad's Kadimiyah district caused thousands of people to stampede in panic. Hundreds of people were crushed, or fell from a bridge into the Tigris River when a railing collapsed from overloading. Officials said more than 750 people had been killed and more than 300 injured, some critically. Hundreds of thousands of Shi'ite worshipers had gathered for the procession to the Imam Mousa al-Kadim shrine in Kadimiyah. Tensions in the crowd had been high since a mortar and rocket attack two hours earlier that killed seven people and injured more than 40. After the disaster, the bridge near the shrine was littered with hundreds of sandals lost in the pushing and panic. Most of the dead -- mainly women and children -- were trampled to death on the bridge, although some jumped or were pushed into the river about 10 metres (30 feet) below and had drowned. Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari declared a three-day mourning period.

460202

AP Television News

Baghdad - 31 August 2005

Various of crowds of pilgrims heading to the holy Imam Mousa al-Kadim shrine

Various of pilgrims carrying coffin covered in green and gold cloth symbolising the "Imam Kadhim"

People in river retrieving bodies and lost items

Pilgrims on the bridge where the railing collapsed

460245

Baghdad - 31 August 2005

Close-up of pilgrims' shoes on bridge Al-A'imma, tilt up to people walking past

original story: G00436

Iraq in July

Iraq's Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari met with Iranian leaders in Tehran, the first visit there by an Iraqi premier since the two countries severed relations in 1980 at the beginning of war between the two countries. Al-Jaafari, an Iraqi Shi'ite, spent more than a decade in exile in Iraq while fighting Saddam's forces. Since the fall of Saddam, many observers had blamed Iran for supporting Shi'ite sectarian terrorism in Iraq and allowing the unfettered movement of terrorists into the country, and Iran had also been accused of backing the revolt of the Shi'ite rebel leader Moqtada al-Sadr. Since Saddam's fall in 2003, Iraq had tried to get closer to Iran and heal the scars left by the 1980-88 war that killed more than 1 (m) million people on both sides.

456169

AP Television News

Tehran, Iran - 16 July 2005

Various of al-Jaafari and Aref at reception ceremony

Al-Jaafari and Aref giving news conference

Close up of Aref

Close up of al-Jaafari

456270

AP Television News

Tehran - 18 July 2005

Ibrahim al-Jaafari, Iraqi Prime Minister and Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, Iran's President-elect in talks

In mid July, a string of major insurgent bombings more than 120 people in four days. One of the attacks was at Mussayib, a religiously-mixed town along the Euphrates River south of Baghdad. As residents of the town walked to evening prayers, a suicide bomber detonated explosives strapped to his body near a mosque, killing more than 60 people. Witnesses said a fuel tanker in the town caught fire and spread the damage to several houses and shops. Mussayib in the "triangle of death," an area so-named because of the large number of kidnappings and killings of Shiite Muslims traveling between Baghdad and the Shiite holy cities of Karbala and Najaf.

456206

AP Television News

Mussayib - 17 July 2005

Various of damaged vehicles at bomb scene

A judge announced details of the first case against the former dictator Saddam Hussein. Raid Juhi, chief judge of the Iraq Special Tribunal, said Saddam and three other men would stand trial for the July 1982 massacre of Shiite villagers at Dujail, 50 miles north of Baghdad. The massacre of over 140 men and young boys was in retaliation for an assassination attempt on Saddam as he visited the village. The three accused along with Saddam include his half-brother and former intelligence chief Barazan Ibrahim; former Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan; and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, a Baath party official in Dujail. If convicted, all four men could receive the death penalty.

456232

Pool

FILE: Baghdad - 1 July 2004

Close up Saddam Hussein talking in interrogation video

AP Television News

Baghdad - 17 July 2005

SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Judge Raid Juhi, chief judge of the Iraq Special Tribunal:

"With the completion of the investigative procedures, the accused Saddam Hussein Majid, Barazan Ibrahim al-Hasan, Taha Yassin Ramadan, Awad Hamed al-Bandarand, and others deemed to be their accomplices, have been indicted to be tried by the Trial Chamber under clauses (1), (4), (6) and (9) of Article 12 (a) of the Statute of the Iraqi Special Tribunal, which deal with crimes against humanity, and in accordance with Article 15 of the Statute. With this announcement, the IST has raised this historical trial to a new level on the basis of legal evidence as the Trial Chamber judges will determine the date of the beginning of the trials in the next few days."

Pool

FILE: Baghdad - 1 July 2004

Wide shot Saddam Hussein being interrogated by Judge Juhi

Iraq in August

Insurgent sabotaged Iraq's national power grid in August, cutting electricity to swathes of central and southern Iraq, including Baghdad and Basra. The power cuts put a temporary halt to the loading of oil onto ships at the port of Basra -- the main export terminal for Iraqi oil since insurgent attacks had forced the northern oil pipeline to Turkey to close earlier in the year. An Iraqi official said insurgents had collapsed a pylon onto a major electricity line between Beiji and the capital.

459530

AP Television News

Basra - 23 August 2005

Wide shot of South Oil Company

Sign reading "South Oil Company"

Various of fire from oil refinery

Man closing oil production lines

In late August, negotiators at the Iraqi National Assembly announced they had agreed a draft constitution to be voted-on in a referendum in October. But Sunni leaders urged their community to vote against the charter, saying it had been rammed through the drafting committee by the dominant Shiite Arab and Kurdish alliance. Sunni negotiators delivered their rejection in a joint statement shortly after the draft was submitted to the assembly. They branded the draft version as illegitimate and asked the Arab League and the United Nations to intervene against the document. In Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, and in the city of Ramadi west of Baghdad, thousands of people marched to denounce the proposed constitution. But in Kut province, 120 miles (190 kilometres) south of Baghdad, more than two thousand Shiite demonstrators took to the streets to voice their support for the document.

460039

AP Television News

Tikrit - 29 August 2005

Demonstrators marching and applauding

Demonstrators marching and chanting

Demonstrator holding picture of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and chanting pro-Islam slogans

460133

AP Television News

Ramadi - 30 August 2005

Demonstrators carrying pictures of Moqtada al-Sadr (Shiite cleric) his father and former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein chanting (in Arabic) "No to the constitution."

Pictures and placards reading (in Arabic) "No to federalism."

Kut - 29 August 2005

Wide shot of pro-constitution demonstration

Demonstrators carrying pictures of Shiite clerics Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, chanting pro-constitution slogans

Rumours that a suicide bomber was in the crowd at a Shi'ite religious procession in Baghdad's Kadimiyah district caused thousands of people to stampede in panic. Hundreds of people were crushed, or fell from a bridge into the Tigris River when a railing collapsed from overloading. Officials said more than 750 people had been killed and more than 300 injured, some critically. Hundreds of thousands of Shi'ite worshipers had gathered for the procession to the Imam Mousa al-Kadim shrine in Kadimiyah. Tensions in the crowd had been high since a mortar and rocket attack two hours earlier that killed seven people and injured more than 40. After the disaster, the bridge near the shrine was littered with hundreds of sandals lost in the pushing and panic. Most of the dead -- mainly women and children -- were trampled to death on the bridge, although some jumped or were pushed into the river about 10 metres (30 feet) below and had drowned. Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari declared a three-day mourning period.

460202

AP Television News

Baghdad - 31 August 2005

Various of crowds of pilgrims heading to the holy Imam Mousa al-Kadim shrine

Various of pilgrims carrying coffin covered in green and gold cloth symbolising the "Imam Kadhim"

People in river retrieving bodies and lost items

Pilgrims on the bridge where the railing collapsed

460245

Baghdad - 31 August 2005

Close-up of pilgrims' shoes on bridge Al-A'imma, tilt up to people walking past