Court: Execute Saddam within 30 days

[GaryC 7]

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writer 14 minutes ago

The sentence "must be implemented within 30 days," chief judge Aref Shahin said. "From tomorrow, any day could be the day of implementation."

On Nov. 5, an Iraqi court sentenced Saddam to the gallows for ordering the 1982 killings following an attempt on his life.

Under Iraqi law, the appeals court decision must be ratified by President Jalal Talabani and Iraq's two vice presidents. Talabani opposes the death penalty but has in the past deputized a vice president to sign an execution order on his behalf — a substitute that was legally accepted.

Raed Juhi, a spokesman for the High Tribunal court that convicted Saddam, said the judicial system would ensure that Saddam is executed even if Talabani and the two vice presidents do not ratify the decision.

"We'll implement the verdict by the power of the law," Juhi said. He did not elaborate.

The appeals court also upheld death sentences for Barzan Ibrahim, Saddam's half brother and intelligence chief during the Dujail killings, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, head of Iraq's Revolutionary Court, which issued the death sentences against the Dujail residents.

The appeals court concluded the sentence of life imprisonment given to former vice president Taha Yassin Ramadan was too lenient and returned his file to the High Tribunal. Ramadan was convicted of premeditated murder in the Dujail case.

"We demand that he be sentenced to death," said Shahin, the appeals judge.

At his trial, Saddam argued that the Dujail residents who were killed had been convicted in a legitimate Iraqi court for trying to assassinate him in 1982.

The televised trial was watched throughout Iraq and the Middle East as much for theater as for substance. Saddam was ejected from the courtroom repeatedly for political harangues, and his half brother once showed up in long underwear and sat with his back to the judges.

The nine-month trial inflamed Iraq's political divide, however, and three defense lawyers and a witness were murdered during the course of its 39 sessions.

Saddam is in the midst of a second trial charging him with genocide and other crimes during a 1987-88 military crackdown on Kurds in northern Iraq. An estimated 180,000 Kurds died during the operation.

Saddam was found hiding with an unfired pistol in a hole in the ground near his home village north of Baghdad in December 2003, eight months after he fled the capital ahead of advancing American troops.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061226/ap_on_...ddam_s_sentence

[dani_christine 0]

justice is sweet.

[Ban Hammer 13,342]

justice is sweet.

amen

he'll have zarquawi to keep him occupied in hell.

[brnidokiegurl 0]

THINK IT WILL EVERY TAKE PLACE?

[Sofiyya 1,687]

I'm selling tickets to it. Contact me @ 1-888-WARLORD and I'll hook you up!

[peezey 0]

I don't think this sham trial is anything to be proud of. Nor do I think it prudent to hang a person who might better serve the global community alive rather than dead, incarcerated of course. Not to mention the heinousness of captial murder in itself not being something to be proud of.

[mawilson 2,133]

I don't think this sham trial is anything to be proud of. Nor do I think it prudent to hang a person who might better serve the global community alive rather than dead, incarcerated of course. Not to mention the heinousness of captial murder in itself not being something to be proud of.

They have no choice. No-one can truly be in charge of Iraq as long as Saddam's alive.

[peezey 0]

I don't think this sham trial is anything to be proud of. Nor do I think it prudent to hang a person who might better serve the global community alive rather than dead, incarcerated of course. Not to mention the heinousness of captial murder in itself not being something to be proud of.

They have no choice. No-one can truly be in charge of Iraq as long as Saddam's alive.

Who has no choice? The US created the current Iraqi legal system purposefully, there is always choice.

[mawilson 2,133]

Who has no choice? The US created the current Iraqi legal system purposefully, there is always choice.

You don't get it. As long as he's around, he will find ways to undermine the authority of the Iraqi government and president.

If you were in charge of Iraq, you'd want to see him dead as soon as possible.

[peezey 0]

Who has no choice? The US created the current Iraqi legal system purposefully, there is always choice.

You don't get it. As long as he's around, he will find ways to undermine the authority of the Iraqi government and president.

If you were in charge of Iraq, you'd want to see him dead as soon as possible.

No, I wouldn't.

[Saddle Bronc 124]

THINK IT WILL EVERY TAKE PLACE?

Let's see:

1. already, judge has confirmed sentence
   
2. Al-maliki would probably like to stay in power (and Saddam is a threat)
   
3. Bush won't oppose it (whether Congress does is an out-of-picture, different-coloured bronc)
   

So, yes--Saddam will be joining al-Zarqawi, Zia ul-Haq (murdered by Aslam Beg, nonjudicially, in 1988), Arafat (died of AIDS in 2004 due to his being a sodomite--Putin and Ceaucescu had taped him in the act), Hitler, Mao and Stalin in hell within 30 days.

Edited December 26, 2006 by CherryXS

[mawilson 2,133]

Who has no choice? The US created the current Iraqi legal system purposefully, there is always choice.

You don't get it. As long as he's around, he will find ways to undermine the authority of the Iraqi government and president.

If you were in charge of Iraq, you'd want to see him dead as soon as possible.

No, I wouldn't.

Then you'd be dead.

[peezey 0]

Let's take a tally after he's been dead a month---how the violence will have receded, and al-maliki will suddenly be taken seriously by Iraqis, which is what I'm guessing your point is. Can't wait to see how his murder will solve this fiasco.

Edited December 26, 2006 by peezey

[mawilson 2,133]

Let's take a tally after he's been dead a month---how the violence will have receded, and al-maliki will suddenly be taken seriously by Iraqis, which is what I'm guessing your point is. Can't wait to see how his murder will solve this fiasco.

Maliki will never be taken seriously by the Iraqi people because he is a U.S. muppet and a liar.

That doesn't change the fact that Saddam is a real threat to any leader, current or future.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Fair trial - that is the point here. There have been questions from international observers about "irregular" court procedures.