Posted on 12/29/2006 2:39:42 AM PST by TexKat
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Saddam Hussein's lawyers have been asked to pick up his personal effects but Iraq's Justice Ministry denied it had taken custody of the former president and dismissed a U.S. suggestion he would hang as early as Saturday.
One defense lawyer, who declined to be identified, said Saddam had been handed over by U.S. forces to Iraqi government custody. U.S. military spokesmen said they had nothing to add to a statement late on Thursday that he was still in their control.
Asked about comments from the defense lawyer that Saddam had been handed over, Deputy Justice Minister Bosho Ibrahim told Reuters: "This is not true. He is still with the Americans."
He also dismissed a remark by a senior U.S. official who said there were plans to send Saddam to the gallows as early as Saturday. The ministry, which is in charge of implementing court rulings, would not execute Saddam before January 26, he said.
Khalil al-Dulaimi, who led Saddam's defense team until he was sentenced on November 5, told Reuters: "The Americans called me and asked me to pick up the personal effects."
On Thursday, Saddam was allowed to see two of his half-brothers, who are also in detention at a U.S. base near Baghdad. A lawyer said the former president was in high spirits.
U.S. military and embassy spokesmen dealing with the issue said they had nothing to add to a statement late on Thursday which said Saddam was still in U.S. custody and stressed the need for secrecy over arrangements for security reasons.
Although legally in Iraqi custody, U.S. troops physically keep guard over Saddam. And although Iraqis will carry out the execution, U.S. and Iraqi officials say, it seems likely U.S. forces will stay on hand throughout for fear that opponents of the former leader could turn it into a public spectacle.
Iraqi officials backed away on Thursday from suggestions they would definitely hang him within a month, in line with a 30-deadline set out in the statues of the tribunal. A cabinet minister told Reuters a week-long religious holiday ending only on January 7 would stall any execution.
HAPPY TO BE A MARTYR
Saddam's lawyer said he bade farewell to two of his half brothers on Thursday in a rare prison meeting.
"He was in very high spirits and clearly readying himself," Badie Aref, a defense lawyer, told Reuters after the 69-year-old former leader met half-brothers Watban and Sabawi, who are also both held at the U.S. army's Camp Cropper near Baghdad airport.
"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 novelty of the U.S.-sponsored process by which Saddam and his third half-brother Barzan, along with another senior member of the Baath party, were condemned on November 5 has left considerable room for wrangling over the timing of any execution among rival factions and between Washington and Baghdad.
"It's none of the Americans' business to decide when," one justice ministry official said on Friday.
Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki had previously said he wanted Saddam hanged this year for the killings, torture and other crimes against fellow Shi'ites in the town of Dujail.
But some of Saddam's fellow Sunnis have warned this could reinforce their community's alienation and many ethnic Kurds want Saddam first convicted of genocide against them in a second trial that is still underway.
Saddam is due back in court in that trial on January 8.
Iraq's Saddam-era penal code bars executions on religious holidays. Eid al-Adha holiday, which follows the annual haj pilgrimage to Mecca, runs until January 7 in Iraq.
Nonetheless, the U.S. official in the United States said Saddam could be hanged within days: "I've heard that it's going to be a couple more days, probably."
(Additional reporting by Suleiman al-Khalidi in Dubai, Ibon Villelabeitia in Baghdad)
Cannot speak for myddf, but from the comments there is a sense of foreboding. Not an unrealistic fear.
Saddam is a cult figure (not unlike Jim Jones in Guyana?) and Saddam's demise will motivate mass suicides and murderous retribution.
Say it out loud and be prepared!
Because you are opposed to the death penalty.
Hmmm... I don't believe hanging in the Middle East involves a platform, a drop, and instant oblivion.
Recall pictures out of Syria of pro-Israel spies who were decorated with large signs detailing their misdeeds, and then strung up in public with their feet just a little too high off the ground to interrupt the process.
A pretty slow way to go. Enough time for Saddam to reflect on what he might have done differently in life.
Saddam to hang, but confusion over how soon
Fri Dec 29, 2006 8:29 AM EST
By Mariam Karouny
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Senior Iraqi officials on Friday dismissed suggestions from Washington that they would hang Saddam Hussein this weekend and said some in cabinet were pushing for the execution to be put off for a month or more.
But Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who has called for the ousted president put to death this year for killing and oppressing Shi'ites, said there would be "no review or delay" in the sentence following this week's failure of Saddam's appeal.
And a defense lawyer said he thought Saddam might well die on Saturday after lawyers were told to collect his belongings.
But in a continuation of public confusion at the highest levels and secrecy over the historic proceedings, Iraq's Justice Ministry, which must carry out the execution, denied it had taken custody of Saddam from his U.S. military jailers and said it could not legally hang him for nearly a month.
One senior cabinet official told Reuters that ethnic Kurdish minority leaders were pressing for a second trial, for genocide against Kurds in the 1980s, to conclude before any execution.
"It's none of the Americans' business to decide when," a senior Justice Ministry official said after a U.S. official said Saddam could die as early as Saturday. He insisted the ministry could not legally put him to death until January 26, when 30 days will have elapsed since the appeals court gave its judgment.
With some of Saddam's fellow Sunnis angry at what they see as a political act of vengeance by the U.S.-sponsored court and many Kurds keen to see him first convicted of genocide against them, the timing of Saddam's walk to the gallows is an explosive issue for a country on the brink of sectarian civil war.
Saddam's conviction on November 5 was hailed by President Bush as a triumph for the democracy he promised to foster in Iraq after the 2003 invasion. With U.S. public support for the war slumping as the number of American dead approaches 3,000, Washington is likely to welcome the death of Saddam, despite misgivings among many allies about capital punishment.
Two senior Iraqi cabinet members told Reuters they did not expect an execution in the coming days, not least because of a religious holiday lasting until January 7. The Saddam-era Penal Code bars executions on holidays. But another government source advised reporters to be ready for such news in the coming week.
Najib al-Naimi, a former Qatari justice minister who helped defend Saddam, told Al Jazeera: "The Americans called the defense team to pick up his personal belongings. All these indications show he will probably be executed tomorrow."
"NO DELAY"
Maliki has not commented on the timing since Tuesday's announcement by the appeals court. But, according to an official statement, he told relatives of some of those killed during Saddam's three decades in power: "There is no review or delay in carrying out the execution against the criminal Saddam."
Apparently responding to talk within his fractious national unity coalition that the execution should wait, he said: "Whoever opposes Saddam's execution is insulting the martyrs ... No one can overrule the death sentence."
Saddam had a farewell meeting with two of his half-brothers on Thursday, his lawyers said, adding that the fallen dictator was in high spirits. A third half-brother and another aide are also condemned to die for crimes against humanity.
The senior official at the Justice Ministry said they could not be executed before January 26: "If they don't want to break the law, they cannot execute him before the 30 days is up," he said.
A court spokesman and a cabinet minister said that could be brought forward if the president decreed it -- though President Jalal Talabani seems unlikely to do that given his fellow Kurds' hesitations and a personal policy of not signing death warrants.
Although legally in Iraqi custody, U.S. troops physically keep guard over Saddam. And although Iraqis will carry out the execution, U.S. and Iraqi officials say, it also seems likely U.S. forces will stay on hand throughout for fear that opponents of the former leader could turn it into a public spectacle.
International human rights groups criticized the year-long trial, during which three defense lawyers were killed and a chief judge resigned complaining of political interference.
Rights groups, along with many of the United States' Western allies which nearly all ban capital punishment, have voiced unease over the decision to put Saddam and his aides to death.
(Additional reporting by Suleiman al-Khalidi in Dubai and Ibon Villelabeitia and Alastair Macdonald in Baghdad)
http://ca.today.reuters.com/news/NewsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=uri:2006-12-29T132857Z_01_IBO034602_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-IRAQ-COL.XML&pageNumber=1&summit=
One would think he has had plenty of time to do that behind those bars.
International human rights groups criticized the year-long trial, during which three defense lawyers were killed and a chief judge resigned complaining of political interference.
___________________________________________________________
I didn't realize that Mike Nifong was doing double duty in Iraq;)
Sorry but it was just hanging out there!
Perhaps you don't believe in the death penalty or you're afraid of the repercussions that his hanging may bring?
Oh boy :)
Fox reporting that Saddam will be handed over to the Iraqi forces today
Saddam will embrace death, just like the suicide bombers and the rest of the "martyrs". I doubt there will be a "light bulb" moment in which he thinks otherwise.
I appreciate the way you handle things.
You are a smart, compassionate, brave woman.
Thanks for the link ErnBatavia!
I think they aught to let the various networks bid on the right to televise the hanging.
Thanks for the heads up sodpoodle.
You feel that way because you watch and believe too much MSM. You're being manipulated, sorry to say.
Yea! Straight to the gallows then!
Doing what needs doing is rarely easy.
The man earned his fate many times over. There are many Iraqis that will live in fear as long as he breaths. They fear somehow he will return and seek his revenge.
Let the book be closed.
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