Iraqi authorities have been given the green light to begin confiscating the assets of late President Saddam Hussein, along with the assets of many of his relatives and thousands of people who were associated with his regime. Some critics, however, say the process lends itself to corruption and raises questions about the timing of the decision and the value of the assets as well as their future use.
The Iraqi Accountability and Justice Commission on March 5 said it has completed its list of the people whose assets are to be seized: 52 people who were senior officials during Saddam's regime and 4,257 ex-ministers and officials of his Baath Party. The list includes deceased relatives, including Saddam's cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as Chemical Ali, who was hanged in 2010 for gassing 5,000 Kurds in northern Iraq in 1988.