Saddam sentenced to death by hanging

[blm]

OUSTED Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein has been sentenced to death by hanging today after being found guilty of crimes against humanity in ordering the deaths of 148 Shi'ite villagers.

If an automatic review of the death sentence fails, the former strongman will hang within 30 days.

Judge Rauf Rasheed Abdel Rahman ordered bailiffs at the Iraqi High Tribunal to force Saddam to stand before the court as, visibly trembling, the former strongman attempted to shout down the verdict.

"Make him stand," barked Rahman, as Saddam begged the guards: "Don't bend my arms. Don't bend my arms."

A court official held Saddam's hands behind his back as Rahman, shouting to be heard over the defendant's protests, declared: "The highest penalty should be implemented."

Saddam was sentenced to death for his role in ordering the deaths of 148 Shi'ites in the village of Dujail, north of Baghdad.

As he was led away, his arms still pinioned, Saddam declared: "Long live Iraq. Long live the Iraqi people. God is greater than the occupier."

Saddam's half-brother and intelligence chief Barzan al-Tikriti was also sentenced to death, as was Awad Ahmed al-Bandar, who was convicted as the president of the kangaroo court which ordered the Shi'ites executed.

The former vice president Taha Yassin Ramadan received a life sentence, while three Baath party officials from Dujail received 15 years each and a fourth, more junior figure, was cleared

Saddam will have his sentence automatically reviewed by an appeals panel.

If the appeal judges find grounds to question the judgment, Saddam will face another trial.

If not, the sentence imposed today will stand and will be carried out within 30 days.

Under the statutes establishing the tribunal in December 2003, both the defence and the prosecution have the right to appeal the verdict.

Saddam's lawyers would have to show there was an error in procedure or non-respect for the law.

"If Saddam is condemned to death, the defence will appeal," Lebanese lawyer Bushra Khalil of Saddam's defence team said earlier this week.

If the original sentence is upheld, however, the tribunal statutes say that the sentence must be carried out within 30 days, a fact confirmed by public prosecutor Jaafar al-Mussawi.

Saddam has also been on trial since August 21 charged with ordering the Anfal Campaign in the Kurdish heartland of northern Iraq in 1987 and 1988 which resulted in the deaths of more than 180,000 people, prosecutors say.

"As for the other trials, the tribunal will judge those defendants still living, since those who have been executed can no longer be prosecuted," Mussawi added in June.

The statutes state that no authority, not even the president, can pardon anyone convicted by the tribunal or commute their sentences.

Iraq's beleaguered military was on a war footing for the sentencing and a total curfew was in force in three flashpoint provinces; the war-torn capital Baghdad, the sectarian battlefields of Diyala and Saddam's home region of Salaheddin.
Iraq's current government is far from a neutral observer in the case – indeed, many experts have accused it of heavy-handed intervention in the case.

"We hope the sentence matches what this man deserves for what he has done against the Iraqi people. The Iraqi people will express happiness in the way they find appropriate," Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said yesterday.

"We call upon the Iraqi people to be calm, to be disciplined and to express themselves in ways that take into consideration the security challenge and the need to protect the lives of citizens."

Saddam and his fellow defendants were accused of ordering the village of Dujail to suffer savage collective punishment after agents of Maliki's Dawa party tried to kill the then Iraqi leader there in 1982.

The community's orchards were ripped up and 148 Shi'ite civilians were dragged before a Baath Party kangaroo court and sentenced to death.

Such an accusation still carries a potent political charge more than three and a half years after Saddam was driven from power by a US-led invasion, amid ongoing sectarian bloodshed and effective occupation by US forces.

Iraq's Shi'ite majority seized upon the fall of the Sunni dictator and the old elite to seize power and seek vengeance for crimes such as the destruction of Dujail, while the country has slipped into sectarian war.

Many of the Sunni insurgents fighting the US-backed regime remain loyal to Saddam's memory. Last month, for example, tribal sheikhs paraded outside Kirkuk brandishing portraits of their deposed leader and demanding his restoration.

Such armed groups – including the Islamic Army of Iraq, which is made up of former Baath Party cadres and veterans of Saddam's armed forces – have been at the forefront of attacks on US and government forces.

Whether they have reserves of fury yet to unleash may become evident in the aftermath of the verdict.

[Big Eagle]

I bet you Bush had the biggest party ever when he found this out...

[YellowJacket]

Pwned.

[Lmg2701]

That's too simple..... They should watch the "Saw" movies and grab a few ideas from there.

[blm]

I don't think he did anything that wasn't necessary to be quite honest. It will take that type of dictatorship to maintain any type of control in that place.

[SonofBone]

Funny how the media and government spin this things. In the 80's, we were funding him and providing him w/nerve gas to be used against Iran. He was an ally then, but later down the road we see him as an enemy.

I'm not saying he is a good guy, but I believe our government and propaganda machine will spin things that serve their best interest...and I'm not talking about our citizen's best interests.