home

Saddam Loses Appeals; Execution in 30 Days?

The BBC Reports:

He's out of appeals and under Iraqi law, his execution must occur within 30 days and could be "at any time."

The court rejected an appeal by Saddam Hussein's lawyers and confirmed that he would be hanged, court spokesman Raed Juhi told the BBC.

...."It cannot exceed 30 days. As from tomorrow [Wednesday] the sentence could be carried out at any time," appeals court judge Arif Shaheen told a news conference in Baghdad.

Saddam has asked for a firing squad but authorities say he may be hanged in his cell. Parts will be televised on Iraqi tv.

< Judicial Temperament | Why We Need Criminal Justice Reform in 2007 >
  • The Online Magazine with Liberal coverage of crime-related political and injustice news

  • Contribute To TalkLeft


  • Display: Sort:
    There seems to be... (5.00 / 1) (#2)
    by Edger on Tue Dec 26, 2006 at 12:00:18 PM EST
    ...some uncertainty about what the laws of Iraq are and whether the power to execute him resides in the Iraqi 'executive' or in the 'judicial' branch concerning the appeals court decision:
    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.

    What a sham:

    WHY SADDAM HAD TO GO
    "Control is what it's all about," one oilman told me. "It's not about getting the oil, it's about controlling oil's price."


    What a timely diversion! (5.00 / 1) (#11)
    by caramel on Tue Dec 26, 2006 at 04:22:01 PM EST
    This whole trial business of Sadam is just another sham. For the last 1300 years Iraq has had civil wars when a dictator wasn't around to rule. If Bush believes that soldiers will resolve the problems, he'd be well advised to 1/  learn how to read, 2/ learn the history of the world of of his home country and 3/ to find a few neurons to make sensible decisions (for a change). Another man will pay with his life to feed the current political propganda, what's new? Over 3500 prisoners on death row is the US are being used in the same way and for the same reason. No wonder America has become the shame of the civilized world. I can't remember which author wrote "The United States went from stone age to decadence without going through civilization" but surely and sadly the politicians are proving this to be true... It's beyond being a sad reality. I'm not sure what the 21st century has in store for us, but surely 2007 promises to be interesting.

    Maybe (none / 0) (#1)
    by Che's Lounge on Tue Dec 26, 2006 at 11:32:38 AM EST
    they could have Simon Cowell judge the execution, so that the american people can put the events in Iraq in the proper perspective. Or, as Bill Cosby said to HIS progeny, "I brought you into this world, and I can take you OUT!" Another victory in the "War on Terror", except for one little detail...

    Saddam made the very serious mistake... (none / 0) (#3)
    by Bill Arnett on Tue Dec 26, 2006 at 12:26:07 PM EST
    ...of wanting to end "petro-dollars" and change the currency of choice to the "petro-euro", which, of course, the U.S. could ill afford to let happen. Hence:

    "Control is what it's all about," one oilman told me. "It's not about getting the oil, it's about controlling oil's price."

    This is accurate insofar as 'controlling to price" also includes "controlling which currency with which the oil is purchased."

    The changeover is being made anyway now, so Saddam will certainly have the last laugh as the dollar slides into worthlessness in comparison with other currencies.

    This hanging will make Saddam a "martyr" who stood up to the Great Satan engaging in the new Crusades to conquer the Middle East.  I hope the military is prepared for the bloodbath coming from executing this martyr.

    It is ill-advised, IMO, to create martyrs in a land of fanaticism.

    Mornin' everybody.

    Sham (5.00 / 1) (#6)
    by squeaky on Tue Dec 26, 2006 at 01:14:45 PM EST
    It is ill-advised, IMO, to create martyrs in a land of fanaticism.

    Especially under our occupation as overseeing and perpetuating a sham trial based on sham laws devised by the US.

    history will not treat this kindly.

    Parent

    I think that a martyr on (none / 0) (#4)
    by Edger on Tue Dec 26, 2006 at 12:40:47 PM EST
    the scale of Saddam will help bush justify sending more troops to Iraq.

    How can you fight a proper 'war on terror' without making more terrorists, after all?

    Parent

    CNN is reporting now that (none / 0) (#7)
    by Edger on Tue Dec 26, 2006 at 01:16:50 PM EST
    Bush and the WH are calling the decision "an important milestone".

    Parent
    are you sure they didn't say ... (none / 0) (#23)
    by Sailor on Thu Dec 28, 2006 at 09:38:28 AM EST
    ... an important millstone!?

    Parent
    Maybe that's what they meant (none / 0) (#24)
    by Edger on Thu Dec 28, 2006 at 09:41:27 AM EST
    without knowing they meant it? ;-)

    Parent
    HAPPY KWANSA (none / 0) (#5)
    by Che's Lounge on Tue Dec 26, 2006 at 01:09:04 PM EST


    CNN is (none / 0) (#8)
    by Edger on Tue Dec 26, 2006 at 01:39:33 PM EST
    running heavy demonizing propaganda about Saddam now, almost as if they feel they have to try him all over again in the media to justify something...

    Some rational thinking from... (none / 0) (#9)
    by Edger on Tue Dec 26, 2006 at 02:12:18 PM EST
    ...New Delhi.

    India says do not hang Saddam

    The reason for not hanging Saddam is simple; he is a leader of a group in Iraq. Whatever he did was bad but at the same time capital punishment against him is equally reprehensible. It will only escalate the civil war in Iraq. It will bring more Sunnis to streets as suicide bombers who see him as an icon of Iraq. He is popular in Sunni communities because he decidedly won again the Shiites in a war that started long ago.

    The people who are in charge of Iraq today has no moral rights to hang Saddam. The reason is these are the people who were his enemies. The execution of Saddam will be recorded in history as brutal part of the continuation of a civil war between Sunnis and Shiites.

    There are larger reason for not hanging him. After all he did not lie on `Weapons of Mass Destruction'. While Saddam's actions were reprehensible, what is his opposition Shiites and Kurds are doing is equally reprehensible if not more. If he is executed now, some of the same people who are executing him today will be executed later as the Sunnis gain control after some time - the civil war will continue for ever.
    ...
    "We have seen reports which said that appeals court has confirmed death sentence" awarded to Hussain, External Affairs Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said here.

    "It is our hope that the sentence will not be carried out and the former President's life would be spared," he said.



    right, just what we need.......... (none / 0) (#10)
    by cpinva on Tue Dec 26, 2006 at 02:47:46 PM EST
    saddam as a martyr. he shouldn't even have been tried in iraq, by an iraqi court, for crimes against humanity. he should have been tried in the world court, at the hague. or, in the alternative, by an international tribunal, located in baghdad.

    the precedence for this would be the nuremburg trials. while they took place in germany, and crimes were committed against german citizens, none of the prosecutors or judges were german.

    on the flip side, elizabeth I, when explaining why, even though she really didn't want to, she signed a death warrant for the execution of a young rival, stated "the people can't have two queens." as long as saddam remains alive, there will be those who wish him back in power, and willing to fight to get him there.

    decisions, decisions!

    What About Our Credibility? (none / 0) (#12)
    by john horse on Wed Dec 27, 2006 at 05:55:27 AM EST
    During the first Gulf war didn't Bush's daddy make a deal with Saddam Hussein?  If he didn't use chemical weapons against our troops and if he would destroy his WMD stockpile, we would allow him to stay in power.      

    Making of a martyr (none / 0) (#13)
    by Edger on Wed Dec 27, 2006 at 07:28:21 AM EST
    Middle East Online
    2006-12-27
    Saddam, in a letter written to the Iraqi people from his cell before his appeal against a death sentence failed, said: "I sacrifice myself. If God wills it, he will place me among the true men and martyrs."
    ...
    In what might therefore be his final message, Saddam blamed his old enemies the United States and Iran for the bloodshed engulfing Iraq, which is in the grip of a sectarian war between Sunni and Shiite factions.

    "The enemies of your country, the invaders and the Persians have found your unity a barrier between you and those who are now ruling you. Therefore, they drove their hated wedge among you," he declared.

    "O faithful people, I bid you farewell as my soul goes to God the compassionate," he wrote. "Long live Iraq. Long Live Iraq. Long live Palestine. Long live jihad and the mujahideen. God is great."



    Good Riddance (none / 0) (#14)
    by Abdul Abulbul Amir on Wed Dec 27, 2006 at 09:45:54 AM EST
    An advisor to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told ABC News that hundreds of Iraqis have inquired about the job as Hussein's hangman, even though officially, no such position exists and the government has not advertised for it.

    Stretching this bad boy's neck may well save thousands of innocent lives.  Good riddance.

    It may.... or it may not. (none / 0) (#15)
    by Edger on Wed Dec 27, 2006 at 09:57:09 AM EST
    We'll know soon enough. It may spark an explosive exacerbation of the civil war in Iraq, and the deaths of many more thousands of innocent lives...

    Parent
    Executing him now is dangerous (none / 0) (#16)
    by Edger on Wed Dec 27, 2006 at 10:22:43 AM EST
    Dec. 27, 2006, 9:00AM
    Houston Chronicle
    BAGHDAD, Iraq -- An appeals court order upholding Saddam Hussein's death sentence might not require the Iraqi president's approval, a presidential spokesman said Wednesday. If it does not, the former dictator will have no other legal means of avoiding execution.
    ...
    "Executing him now is dangerous. The situation is very bad. Things need to be calmer," said Saadia Mohamed Majed, a 60-year-old Shiite in Baghdad who wants the penalty to be postponed for at least three years. Shiites endured persecution under Saddam and his fellow Sunni Arab leaders, and many are eager to remove a symbol of the old regime.
    ...
    Some Saddam loyalists threatened to retaliate if the ousted Iraqi leader is executed, warning in an Internet posting that they would target U.S. interests anywhere.

    The statement appeared on a Web site known to represent Saddam's Baath Party, which was disbanded after U.S.-led forces overthrew Saddam in 2003. The site is believed to be run from Yemen, where a number of exiled members of the party are based.

    "The Baath and the resistance are determined to retaliate, with all means and everywhere, to harm America and its interests if it commits this crime," the statement said, referring to Baath fighters as "the resistance."



    Parent
    Amazing (none / 0) (#17)
    by Al on Wed Dec 27, 2006 at 01:02:45 PM EST
    Explain this statement:
    Stretching this bad boy's neck may well save thousands of innocent lives.

    How? I mean, how?

    Parent
    It occurs to me that (none / 0) (#18)
    by Edger on Wed Dec 27, 2006 at 01:14:37 PM EST
    As bad as Saddam was, and he was one of the baddest, no question, it seems awfully strange for Bush to be wanting to give Saddam exactly what he's now asking for - 'martyrdom'.

    Especially considering the fact that it will probably make it easier for Bush to try justifying a "surge" of more dead American soldiers in his WOT.

    Strange indeed....

    Haint yoo gittin' it? (none / 0) (#19)
    by jondee on Wed Dec 27, 2006 at 01:16:16 PM EST
    It'll be a detterant to all cold blooded, utterly ruthless dictators propped up by the U.S in the future.

    saddam as martyr (none / 0) (#20)
    by diogenes on Wed Dec 27, 2006 at 03:03:50 PM EST
    If Saddam had really wanted to be a martyr he wouldn't have hid in a hole.  
    By sounding generous and implying that he wants to be a martyr, he hopes to enlist international opposition to his execution.  You'll note that the rants have ended.  It's like the death row inmates who become wonderful people once the sentence is pronounced.

    hahahaha (5.00 / 1) (#21)
    by squeaky on Wed Dec 27, 2006 at 03:36:02 PM EST
    If Saddam had really wanted to be a martyr he wouldn't have hid in a hole.

    And I am sure that you believed the one about "the liberated people" of Iraq spontaneously toppling a statue of Sadaam as well.

    Not to mention all those pesky WMDs.

    Parent

    Diogenes? (5.00 / 1) (#22)
    by Edger on Wed Dec 27, 2006 at 03:43:28 PM EST
    You know...for a guy who comes with a lantern included you sure don't look very closely or see much. Batteries dead?

    Parent
    Hussein's chief lawyer (none / 0) (#25)
    by Edger on Thu Dec 28, 2006 at 10:01:44 AM EST
    Dec. 28, 2006, 8:58AM
    Lawyer begs U.S. to protect Saddam
    Associated Press
    BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Saddam Hussein's chief lawyer implored world leaders on today to prevent the United States from handing over the ousted leader to Iraqi authorities for execution, saying the former dictator should enjoy protect from his enemies as a "prisoner of war."
    ...
    Al-Dulaimi warned that turning over Saddam to the Iraqis would increase the sectarian violence that already is tearing the country apart.

    "If the American administration insists in handing the president to the Iraqis, it would commit a great strategic mistake which would lead to the escalation of the violence in Iraq and the eruption of a destructive civil war," he said.



    There's (none / 0) (#26)
    by aw on Thu Dec 28, 2006 at 10:16:27 AM EST
    nothing we can do do stop this disaster, because W wants it to happen.  Here we go again.

    Parent
    I asked in one thread (none / 0) (#27)
    by Edger on Thu Dec 28, 2006 at 10:25:27 AM EST
    months ago (I forget which) why it seems that everytime the right invents a problem and goes to "war" against it the problem just gets bigger... and bigger... and bigger.

    e.g. WOT, WOD, etc.

    There is an old proverb in marketing and sales framed as a question:

    If we're not getting the results we want, what are we doing to get the results we're getting?"

    It relates to responsibility and accountability. Two things that seem to mystify Bush.

    Parent