BAGHDAD, January 8, -- Powerful Iraqi Shiite
politician Abdel Aziz al-Hakim has called for the
swift execution of two former aides of Saddam
Hussein, who was himself hanged nine days ago.
"We demand in the name of the Iraqi people that the
prime minister and the government accelerate the
carrying out of the execution of those criminals who
have been sentenced," Hakim, leader of the Supreme
Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), a
Shiite party in the ruling Iraqi government, said at
a religious gathering in Baghdad on Monday.
He also urged authorities to "stay on course to take
legal actions against the others to achieve
justice."
Two of Saddam's aides, Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti and
Awad Ahmed al-Bandar, are to be executed after an
Iraqi court found them guilty of crimes against
humanity.
International leaders and human rights groups have
called for a stay of the executions after the
bungled hanging of Saddam on December 30. |
Iraqi Shiite leader Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, the head of
parliament's largest bloc
Photo:AFP |
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