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)
"who despite his past and means, kept Iraq a somewhat peaceful country....as far as tribal conflicts".
Get a grip DCP - I'm shocked!
Saddam killed the tribes - peacefully?
Why don't you go talk to the Kurds and find out what happened in this "peaceful country" you talk about? I doubt if they would share your view of Iraq and the absolute brutal torture this evil man did to their friends and family. It is a wonder any survived.
People were put to death or sentenced to confinement with no justification but because that is what Saddam wanted. "Peaceful country" does not describe this brutal dictator and what he did to his own people. Don't imagine many Iraqi's would agree with your analysis except those loyal to Sadaam.
People have to know there are consequences for their actions no matter how old they are. He deserves nothing except to be hanged and the sentence carried out. You do realize this trial was a small part of the crimes against the man? Why should the US have to keep this man in custody and continue to feed him?
Punctuation rules of the English language don't apply to this guy. He's "special".
Then I suggest the next invasion start in Pyongyang, move to China, then gradually work its way down through southeast Asia, south Asia, the Middle East and on into Africa. There's enough material there to keep us busy for a while. When we're done there, we can move to Venezuela and the world tour could finish in Cuba when we deliver the coup de gras to Castro.
"Actions have consequences." That facile cliche could be our motto which we announce to each head of state, just before we invade. Kinda like the Monty Python gag ...."nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!!"
Great idea!
Don't go wobbly on us now, mydff!
"Basically it's 'drop, crack, dead' — if it's done right," said D.P. Lyle, a cardiologist and author of the book "Forensics for Dummies."
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=2759048&page=1
Any time we get our hands on one, you betchya.
Unless you'd rather just compensate him for his losses, and reinstall him in Iraq.
(shaking head in wonderment)
"America now has a brief to hunt down and execute every dictator who "killed masses of his own people"?"
I like your plan.
Can't wait!
Maybe I'll form a new rock band and call it the Swinging Saddams or something.
"When will Mookie face Iraqi justice ...?"
Eating one cookie at a time....
Fox reporting that Saddam has now been handed over to the Iraqis
LOL!
You'd think someone so "special" could at least capitalize an I.
Defence lawyers can meet Saddam 'in coming days'
29/12/2006 16h44
©AFP - Asif HassanAMMAN (AFP) - US authorities in Iraq have authorised Saddam Hussein's defence lawyers to meet the deposed leader "in the coming days", his lawyers have said, amid speculation he could be executed as early as Saturday.
"The defence committee asked for a meeting between lawyers and the president (Saddam) during the coming days and the American side accepted," said a statement from the Amman-based legal team sent to AFP Friday.
Iraq has been nervously awaiting Saddam's execution which some officials had suggested might take place on Saturday.
Saddam's defence counsel has fed speculation about the execution by announcing that he had been asked to send someone to collect Saddam's belongings from the US base where he is being held.
"We have begun preparations on the matter (the meeting)," the statement said, adding that "this confirms the president is still being held by the American authorities".
"The only certain information we have till now is that the Americans have asked the chief lawyer to come (to Iraq) and get the personal effects of president Saddam Hussein and (his half brother, also due to hang) Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti," the statement said.
Defence lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi said earlier that he did not think that the US military had already handed Saddam over to the Iraqi authorities who will carry out the execution.
Bangladeshis demonstrate against the death sentence for Saddam Hussain
©AFP - Farjana K. GodhulyAnother defence lawyer, Issam Ghazaoui, said: "We have no information, no one has told us if the president will be executed tomorrow or when... In Iraq anything is possible."
"The speed with which the Iraqi authorities and the American administration want to execute (Saddam) confirms without a doubt that the tribunal was nothing but a cover for a decision already taken to liquidate the president," the statement said.
Saddam, Barzan and Awad Ahmed al-Bandar al-Sadun, a former chief judge of the revolutionary court, were sentenced to hang on November 5 by the Iraqi High Tribunal for the massacre of 148 Shiite villagers from Dujail north of Baghdad after an assassination attempt there against the Iraqi leader in 1982.
On December 26, a panel of appeals court judges confirmed the sentence and ordered that Saddam and two former aides be hanged within 30 days.
This is a UK report 16.44 5 hours behind would make it 11;44 am today ?
Good, now I hope they give him a taste of his own medicine before he swings!
They already reported that once this morning and then changed it to not to have been handed over. Inform Fox News this is not a presidential election.
Fox news alert saying he's been handed over now to the Iraqis...
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