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BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq hanged three convicted
criminals on Thursday, the first time the government
has carried out the death penalty since the fall of
Saddam Hussein in 2003, government spokesman Laith
Kubba said.
The executions could pave the way for similar death
sentences against Saddam and senior aides awaiting
trial.
"At 10 a.m. (0600 GMT) in Baghdad the first
executions were carried out since the fall of the
regime, against three criminals," Kubba told a news
conference.
He said Bayan Ahmed Said, Uday Dawood Salman and
Dhahar Jasim Hassan were hanged in Baghdad. He
declined to say exactly where. The men's ages were
not available.
It was not clear who carried out the execution.
Hanging, applied in Iraq under British colonial
rule, is not a simple procedure since it is meant to
break the neck to ensure a quick death. It was not
clear if an executioner trained under Saddam had
conducted it.
Iraq's three-man presidency had signed the death
sentences for the three men, found guilty by a
criminal court in Wasit province in southeast Iraq
of murder, kidnapping and rape.
President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, excused himself on
personal moral grounds from signing the death
warrant but delegated his powers to one of his two
vice-presidents.
Thousands of Iraqis have died violently since the
2003 U.S. invasion, with insurgents battling U.S.
troops and the U.S.- backed government. Ordinary
crime has also become rampant.
European governments and human rights groups had
hoped the death penalty would be outlawed in Iraq
after the U.S. invasion ended the rule of the Baath
party, accused of killing hundreds of thousands of
people.
But Iraqi leaders and their U.S. sponsors have other
views.
"This is not an easy thing to do," Kubba said.
"Despite all the condemnation from states who want
us to abolish capital punishment, I think capital
punishment will help us deter some criminals."
President Bush supports the death penalty, and has
said he favors death for Saddam Hussein if he is
convicted in a trial expected to begin later this
year.
Talabani has said that he would never sign a death
sentence against anyone, including Saddam himself.
Reuters
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