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Iraqi PM hopes for Saddam death sentence
soon
18.10.2006
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NAJAF, Iraq, October 18, -- Iraqi Prime Minister
Nuri al-Maliki said on Wednesday he hoped legal
proceedings against former president Saddam Hussein
would be short and that he would be found guilty and
sentenced to death soon.
The Shi'ite prime minister's comments come just one
month after his government sacked the chief judge
trying Saddam on genocide charges, saying he had
sacrificed his neutrality by stating the ousted
leader was not a dictator.
That prompted criticism by some international legal
rights groups, who have said government pressure and
sectarian violence in Iraq make a fair trial of
Saddam impossible.
Maliki met Moqtada al-Sadr on Wednesday in the holy
city of Najaf and held a joint news conference
afterwards with the powerful Shi'ite cleric who
heads the Mehdi Army militia and whose followers are
in the government.
Asked about Saddam's trials, Maliki said: "God
willing the trial will not last a long time. God
willing the death sentence verdict will be issued
soon against the tyrant Saddam and his followers."
A verdict is expected as early as November 5 in the
first case brought against Saddam, which relates to
killings in the Shi'ite village of Dujail in the
1980s. The chief judge in that trial quit in protest
against government interference.
ANFAL CAMPAIGN
A second trial is in progress against Saddam and his
cousin Ali Hassan al-Majeed, known as "Chemical
Ali," and five others for war crimes and crimes
against humanity for their role in the 1988 Anfal
campaign against ethnic Kurds. |
Iraqi Prime minister Jawad al-Maliki
Photo:AP
Former dictator Saddam Hussein (R), Ali Hassan Al-Majeed
known as "Chemical Ali" (L)
Photo : AFP |
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Saddam and Majeed also face the graver charge of
genocide. All could be hanged if convicted.
Both trials have examined crimes against Shi'ites
and Kurds, long oppressed under Saddam's Sunni-led
rule but empowered after his fall, leading to
international concerns about political
score-settling and interference.
Maliki, whose Shi'ite-dominated government is
battling to keep the lid on increasingly bloody
sectarian violence, said executing Saddam would help
Iraq.
"Definitely with the execution of Saddam and the
criminals with him, those who are laying their bets
on coming back to power under the banner of Saddam
will find their gamble fails," he said at the news
conference.
Though the verdict in the first trial could come as
soon as November 5, any execution could be delayed
by appeals and by the up to a dozen other cases the
toppled leader could face.
The genocide trial continued on Wednesday with
testimony from two Kurdish witnesses who described
their villages being bombed by the army and how they
were transferred to detention centers and saw
prisoners shot in the head.
Reuters
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