The trial of the Iraqi gunman who burst into the offices of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Baghdad June 28, killing two and wounding seven, opened on Monday.
Mechanic Fuad Hussein Haidar, 38, shot dead two UN employees, the Somali deputy head of the FAO's office, Yusuf Abdullah, and an Iraqi computer expert in the attack with a Kalashnikov assault rifle.
Seven others were wounded, two seriously.
At the court's first session, three judges heard 19 witnesses, 10 of whom were FAO employees. Nine Iraqi guards, some of whom were wounded in the attack, are also expected to testify.
The attacker, whose family members were present in court, was held under heavy-armed guard in the witness box, while the weapons and explosives in his possession during the attack were entered as evidence.
After surrendering to Iraqi authorities, Haidar said he wanted to draw attention to the "genocide of thousands of Iraqis" under the UN embargo, which has been in force since Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
The FAO, which employs around 40 staffers in Baghdad, operates in northern Iraq under a UN humanitarian deal and also runs a country program similar to others elsewhere – BAGHDAD (AFP)
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