|
Saddam death sentence expected by the
middle of January
6.11.2006
|
|
|
|
BAGHDAD, November
6, -- Iraq's appeals court was expected to rule on
Saddam Hussein's guilty verdict and death sentence
by the middle of January, the chief prosecutor said
Monday.
Additionally, the AP has learned, Iraq's three-man
presidential council agreed at least six months ago
not to block the death penalty for Saddam, should it
be upheld on appeal.
All three members of the Presidential Council -
President Jalal Talabani and Vice Presidents Tariq
al-Hashimi and Adil Abdul-Mahdi — must sign death
warrants before executions can be carried out.
Talabani, a Kurd who opposes capital punishment, has
permanently deputized Abdul-Mahdi, a Shiite Muslim,
to sign on his behalf. Abdul-Mahdi has said he would
sign Saddam's death warrant, meaning two of three
signatures were assured. |
Former dictator Saddam Hussein (L), Barzan Ibrahim
al-Tikriti Saddam's half brother and former
intelligence chief
Photo : eKURD.NET |
Al-Hashimi, the other vice president and a Sunni
Muslim, gave his word that he also would sign a
Saddam death penalty sentence as part of the deal
under which he got the job on April 22, according to
witnesses at the meeting, which was attended by U.S.
Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad.
"We wanted a written promise before the first
meeting of the new parliament but later and during a
meeting in the presence of American and British
ambassadors and other politicians the promise became
oral in which he vowed not to oppose important rules
and laws especially those related to Saddam," Deputy
Parliament Speaker Khaled al-Attiyah told AP.
Thus the approval of the death penalties handed down
Sunday for Saddam, his half brother, Barzan Ibrahim,
and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, chief of the Revolutionary
Court, had been part of the pact under which al-Hashimi
got one of two vice presidential post.
Saddam and the other two men sentenced to hang were
among eight defendants in a trial for the 1980s
killings of nearly 150 Shiite Muslims from the town
of Dujail, north of Baghdad, after a failed
assassination attempt on Saddam in the city in 1982.
If the nine-judge appeals panel upholds the death
sentences, they could be ready for signing early
next year, according to a schedule laid out Monday
by chief prosecutor Jaafar Moussawi.
Moussawi said the Iraqi High Tribunal, which issued
the verdicts on Sunday, must send the entire case
file to the appeals panel within 10 days, or by Nov.
15.
Saddam's defense team must submit its appeal to the
tribunal by Dec. 5.
On the same day that the defense appeal is given to
the High Tribunal, that court is required to send it
to the prosecutor general for study and preparation
of counter-arguments.
The prosecutor has no time limit to answer the
appeal, but Moussawi told AP he would submit his
brief within days of receiving the defense appeal.
While the appellate court also has no deadline for
its ruling, Moussawi said it would act quickly
because it had no other cases under consideration.
"The appeals panel will take less than a month to
make its decision," Moussawi said.
AP
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the content of news
information on this page
|
® 