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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)

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