Yiwu News,Trade,Foreign exchange -义乌新闻,市场,贸易,外汇,股票,地产,金融等 ....-Saddam’s last hours

Saddam’s last hours

The execution of Saddam Hussein was imminent last night after the US forces who have guarded him since his arrest three years ago handed him over to the Iraqi authorities.

News of the transfer was announced by the former Iraqi leader’s lawyers, though the move was unconfirmed by US officials. It came as an appeal court judge said Saddam would be hanged today, if not overnight.

Judge Munir Haddad said he had been authorised to attend the execution on behalf of the judiciary. “All the measures have been done. I am ready to attend and there is no reason for delay,” he said.

A government official said prime minister Nouri al-Maliki had already signed the death sentence.

Earlier, two of Saddam's half brothers visited him in his jail cell and he gave them his will, according to Iraqi officials.

Khalil al-Dulaimi, who led Saddam's defence team until he was sentenced on November 5, said yesterday the Americans had called and “asked me to pick up the personal effects”.

Another lawyer, Badie Aref, said Saddam was “in very high spirits and clearly readying himself” during the meeting with his half-brothers.

“He told them he was happy he would meet his death at the hands of his enemies and be a martyr, not just languish in jail.”

The ousted dictator, 69, was being held at Camp Cropper, an American military prison near Baghdad airport.

Having rejected the idea of hanging Saddam Hussein before a live audience in a Baghdad soccer stadium, senior Iraqi figures insisted that public confirmation of the success of the former dictator's execution was “very important”.

A source in the justice ministry said the proceedings would be recorded by a video-cameraman and a stills photographer. “It is probable that clips and images may be broadcast on national TV,” the official said, adding, “Iraqis must see for themselves that the man who oppressed them for so long is dead … But we will not turn the whole thing into a circus.”

The source said that Saddam would probably be hanged according to procedures outlined in Iraq's penal code. Paragraph 86 of that code, which dates from 1969, states: “The death penalty is the hanging of the condemned person by the neck until he is dead.” It would normally be carried out in a prison.

“There must be a prosecutor, a judge, a doctor, the prison director and a representative of the interior ministry present,” the source said. “The condemned can also ask a member of the clergy to attend.”

The verdict would first be read out and officially recorded. The condemned person then has the right to make a final statement, which the judge must record. Once the sentence has been carried out the body is either handed over to relatives or buried by the prison authorities at government expense, but with no funeral ceremony.

Recent judicial executions in Baghdad are thought to have been carried out at two locations: one at a prison complex in the northern Baghdad suburb of Kadhimiya, and another on the eastern bank of the Tigris river, close to the interior ministry.

Another possibility, the official said, would be for Saddam to be hanged on a gallows built for him at Camp Cropper.

On Tuesday, an Iraqi appeal court upheld Saddam's death sentence for the killing of 148 people who were detained after an attempt to assassinate him in the northern Iraqi city of Dujail in 1982. The court said he should be hanged within 30 days.

“Our respect for human rights requires us to execute him, and there will be no review or delay in carrying out the sentence,” prime minister Maliki said in comments released by his office.

The Iraqi prime minister said those who opposed the execution of Saddam were insulting the honour of his victims. His office said he made the remarks in a meeting with families of people who died during Saddam's rule.

义乌博客 Yiwu －义乌新闻，市场，贸易，外汇等

Welcome to Yiwu China Small-Commodities City

导航

2006-12-31 17:18:35

Saddam’s last hours

Tags: Saddam,NEWS,Political

Author:see | Categories:博客说 | Comments:0 | Quotes:92

日历

Recent Comments

Recent Articles

Powered By Z-Blog 1.5 Build 60108

Copyright Yiwu diy fashion Some Rights Reserved.