Iraqi Supreme Court Upholds Saddam Hussein Death Penalty
Iraq’s highest appeals court upheld the death penalty for former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. At a news conference, spokesman for the court Raed Juhi announced that the court upheld the death sentence, saying, “He must be executed within 30 days from December 27.”
He stated that there will be no more appeal procedures because this appeal verdict is final. However, according to a source, under Iraqi law, implementing the execution must be ratified by President Jalal Talabani and Iraq's two vice presidents. The source hinted that Talabani is taking a stance opposing the death penalty.
But other sources said that because Talabani has previously allowed vice presidents to sign execution orders on his behalf, former president Hussein can be executed within 30 days without the current president’s ratification, as upheld by the appeals court.
Hussein was sentenced to death last month because of a massacre of 148 Shiite Muslim residents in 1982. However, Saddam rebutted the verdict, saying that at the time, an Iraqi court executed the residents under Iraqi law on suspicion of an assassination attempt.
The appeals court also upheld death sentences for Saddam’s half brother Barzan Ibrahim and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, who issued the death sentences for the residents. Concerning the verdict, the attorney for Saddam Hussein said, “It is not surprising at all. It is easily predicted. It is a political verdict that has no relation to law or justice.”
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 / 입력시간: 2006. 12.28. 11:00
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