Saddam lawyers told to pick up his effects

Reuters ^ | 12/29/06 | Mariam Karouny

[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)

[Recovering Hermit]

why am i feeling this way?

I don't know. Perhaps you're simply a pessimist.

Now I will tell you my feeling. My feeling is that once we kill this evil asshole, things will take a turn for the better in Iraq.

I feel that a big part of the Iraq "quagmire" is that quite a few Iraqis believe in the possibility that Saddam would be restored to his dictatorship, and that they may be placed into the plastic shredder for speaking out against him.

I also feel that this should have been done long ago.

[Polyxene]

Ramsey Clark is deeply saddened.

[sodpoodle]

"its like a creepy foreboding type of "something really bad is about to happen kind of feeling"
______________________________________________________

Probably the exact feeling that Saddam's victims had prior to their death sentences.

[Lazamataz]

The comparison holds: Hitler killed masses of his own people. Saddam killed masses of his own people.

Actions have consequences. Sorry if that disturbs you.

[TomGuy]

i am thinking that i wish they would just keep him imprisoned for life instead

Considering the state of prisons and judiciary, that isn't hopeful any more.

Consider how many terrorists, detained in ME countries, have managed escape in recent years.

Consider some of the judicial decisions made in the US -- rapists, child molesters, killers given minimal sentences or freed by radical judges. We can't even be assured that a 'life sentence' is for life any more.

The judgment against Saddam Hussein was through due process. Does he have a greater right to live than his victims did? He judged that they should die.

The death penalty will always raise such considerations -- and it should. We should never apply it lightly; it should make us ponder our judgment.

[TexKat]

Sympathizers of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein shout slogans against U.S. President George W. Bush during a demonstration in New Delhi, India, Friday, Dec. 29, 2006 against Iraqi court judgment to 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 the former president should be hanged within 30 days. (AP Photo/Mustafa Quraishi)

Bangladeshis demonstrate against the death sentence for former Iraqi President Saddam Hussain in Dhaka. The US military has asked lawyers for Saddam Hussein to pick up the former Iraqi dictator's personal effects in advance of his execution, one of his legal team has said.(AFP/Farjana K. Godhuly)

[ARealMothersSonForever]

Lawyer says Saddam handed over to Iraqis Fri Dec 29, 3:16 AM ET



DUBAI (Reuters) - Saddam Hussein has been handed over by U.S forces to Iraqi government custody, his lawyers said on Friday, in an apparent step toward his execution.


"I understand they have handed him over," said one defense lawyer who declined to give his name.

Another lawyer said that U.S. officials had asked him to pick up the personal effects of the former Iraqi president who has been sentenced to death.

"The American side called me and asked me to pick up the personal effects of the president and Barzan al-Tikriti," said Khalil al-Dulaimi, referring to Saddam's half brother, who has also been sentenced to death.

From al-Reuters
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061229/ts_nm/iraq_saddam_dc_3

Methinks it is a little late to get in on the dead-pool. Just sayin'

[HarleyLady27]

I can understand this feeling....

We are having our 38th President laid to rest with alot of people in one area....and in NYC the Ball is going to be dropping for New Year's Eve and alot of people will be in one area...there will be alot of people in one area all over America on New Year's Eve, so yes I can understand why you would feel this way...its the way the terrorists work, they put it in your mind, and it stays there....

Wasn't it just a day or two ago that the second in command of the terrorists said that if we hang Saddam there will be, I don't remember the word they used, but if we did this we would be sorry we did, yep I can understand this feeling you have....I don't have that feeling, I want this sick piece of flesh disposed of sooner than later...

[1Old Pro]

HANG HIM NOW, and tell the people next week that he was put to death last week.

[PhiKapMom]

ROFLOL! Awesome reply -- score of the National Championship Game which puts everything in perspective for the handwringers.

Better to hang the lowlife and get it over with. Don't know anyone that deserves to be hanged more than Saddam!

[militant2]

That's well stated! One of the primary reasons that America is in the pickle it is, from both a domestic and a foreign standpoint, is our unwillingness to recognize evil for what it is and, further, to deal with it in the most extreme manner.

Extreme actions require extreme consequenses. You don't rehabilitate evil, nor do we, as some would have us believe, reinforce evil actions by implementing proper consequenses.

I am a pro-life Christian...but it is never a values conflict for me when it comes to the extermination of truely evil people who would as soon kill you or your family as to look at you.

Militant

[DCPatriot]

I am feeling exactly the same way.

Maybe it's because without the pomp and circumstance, he's simply an old frail man right now...who despite his past and means, kept Iraq a somewhat peaceful country....as far as tribal conflicts.

I would rather he serve life in solitary confinement and out of the public eye completely.

[mystery-ak]

I still think it's already happened.....but I'm probably wrong.

[ARealMothersSonForever]

If the lawyers have picked up the "personal effects", it is a done deal. Otherwise there would have been a hue and cry from al-Reuters that their heroes were being "deprived of essential items necessary for humane existence" or somesuch crap.

[The Great RJ]

Saddam will soon be swimming in the lake of eternal fire with his sons and Zarqawi.

[PhiKapMom]

What is with these people when it comes to hanging a brutal dictator and killer who didn't hesitate to have scores of people killed over the years in some cases because he didn't like their ethnic origin. How anyone can have the least bit of empathy for this man is beyond me. He is pure evil and deserves to be killed by the most inhumane way possible. He is the lowest form of human life IMHO because he killed people at random for his own satisfaction.

Hang him high works for me! There will not be a tear shed from me -- the sooner the better. Seeing the pictures of the protestors is a joke because you can tell the pictures are staged. Look what happened when the hanging sentence was announced -- people rejoiced in the streets of Baghdad.

He is an evil man and time to end his life. Shame he didn't get shot up like his two evil sons.

BTW, I am not a Compassionate Conservative! You do the crime and you suffer the consequences!

[george76]

[TexKat]

Saddam will most likely face the noose as early as today, as an Iraqi appeals court rejected his final appeal against his death sentence this week. (AP Photo)

The Final Seconds of Saddam Hussein - ABC

Former Iraqi President's Death by Hanging Will Probably Be Swift, Painless

[Steve_Seattle]

"i am thinking that i wish they would just keep him imprisoned for life instead"

And risk the chance of him someday returning to power if the situation in Iraq deteriorates even further? No, I think the world - and Iraq - are better off with him dead. His supporters can threaten violence, but they are ALREADY engaging in violence on a daily basis. Now, if they promised to STOP the violence if Saddam is spared, I might listen. But violent people promising more violence does not constitute a bargaining chip, in my opinion. Saddam's death in a small way will lead Iraq away from its past and hopefully marginally nudge Iraq towards a better future.

[Allegra]

i am thinking that i wish they would just keep him imprisoned for life instead

If they do that, the Iraqi people will fear Saddam coming back into power until he dies. They have expressed that fear on several occasions.

Saddam's execution will be a big step in allowing the people to move forward.