Saddam to go to the gallows within 30 days

Ned Parker

An Iraqi appeals court has ruled that Saddam Hussein should be executed within 30 days.

The former Iraqi leader was convicted on November 5 at the country’s high tribunal of ordering the execution of 148 Shias in the village of Dujail after a 1982 assassination attempt and sentenced to death. The nine-judge appeal panel upheld this decision.

Judge Arif Shaheen said that the verdict was final and legally binding, clearing the way for Saddam to go to the gallows.

“It cannot exceed 30 days,” he said. “As from tomorrow the sentence could be carried out at any time.”

The judge said that Iraqi law stipulated that the sentences should be carried out regardless of other proceedings.

He said that the death sentences had also been upheld for Saddam’s half-brother, Barzan al-Tikriti, the head of Iraq’s intelligence service at the time, and the former revolutionary court judge Awad Ahmed al-Bandar, whose court ordered the execution of the Dujail villagers.

The judge added that the appeals court had deemed the life sentence handed down to Taha Yassin Ramadan, Saddam’s former vice-president, too lenient, and trial judges had been asked to reconsider.

Nouri al-Maliki, Iraq’s Prime Minister, has signalled his wish to have Saddam executed but Iraqi Kurds want the Government to wait until after Saddam’s current trial on charges of genocide for his 1988 military campaign against the Kurds.

Basam Ridha, the Prime Minister’s liaison to the court, said that no plans had yet been made for the execution.

Iraq’s three-man presidency council must now ratify the decision. President Talabani has said that he would stand aside and allow his vicepresidents to ratify the decision because of his own personal opposition to the death penalty.

The White House said that the decision was “an important milestone in the Iraqi people’s efforts to replace the rule of a tyrant with the rule of law”.

A spokesman for the Foreign Office said: “Our position is unchanged. We are opposed to the death penalty as a matter of principle but the decision is one for the Iraqi authorities.”

Saddam’s trial proved to be a polarising event. On the day of the November verdict, Iraq’s Shia celebrated in the streets. Saddam’s Sunni community saw the proceedings as further evidence that the country was aligned against them.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have criticised the Iraqi High Tribunal for lacking the experience to mount a trial on charges of crimes against humanity or genocide. They have also faulted the Iraqi Government for interfering with the court.

On trial

Dec 13, 2003 Saddam Hussein captured by US forces; found hiding in a hole south of Tikrit

Dec 2003 Iraqi Governing Council sets up Iraqi high tribunal to prosecute war crimes

June 2004 Saddam legally transferred to Iraqi authorities, making him a criminal defendant governed by Iraqi law

June 2005 Saddam appears on video answering questions about Dujail massacre in 1982

Oct 2005 Trial begins. Saddam pleads innocent to charges of murder and torture, questioning the court’s legitimacy

Oct-Nov 2005 Two of the lawyers for Hussein’s co-defendants are killed

Nov 5, 2006 Saddam found guilty of crimes against humanity, sentenced to death by hanging

Dec 3, 2006 Appeal lodged against the death sentence