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)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1759925/posts?page=1
SADDAM DONKEY???!?!?!?!?!
ROFLMAO
He killed masses of his own people AND he used forbidden weapons against them AND he invaded another country AND he signed an agreement that said, and I quote, "I am your bitch, signed Saddam" AND he violated that agreement repeatedly AND he shot at allied planes that flew in accordance with that agreement AND he gave the inspectors the run around AND he did not demonstrate that he had destroyed the WMDs as accounted for by the agreement.
Because of all of these things, Saddam's state was forfeit and so is his life.
LOL. Good to see you, Allegra. Sensing any particular mood in Baghdad?
The term "effects" USUALLY mean the person is DEAD already.
Saddam Hanging LIVE Thread:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1759930/posts
LOL, you are on a roll!
I'm home on leave...and very relieved to be so! ;-)
I guess I am just a bit surprised at all of the build up.
LOVE the Texas flag!
Who on earth would imagine that Iraqi graffiti artists would get the Texas flag correct?
Oh for heaven's sake, I knew that. Old timer's disease. LOL.
Since you are a marshmallow, it is ironic that you can't see the value of holding tyranny accountable.
Perhaps you'd like to revisit WWII and stop those Nuremberg executions too.
You know, that really upset those post war Nazis who went on for several years living the Hitler creed of death and mayhem.
Justice is its own reward and that message is more important than your weak analysis. Evil will rear its head regardless, it doesn't mean that you stop fighting to end it and its reign.
Obviously, that's been completely lost upon you. But since you cite CNN as your point of reference, not surprisingly you have adopted their defeatist psychology hook, line and sinker.
Good luck with that.
Well God Bless you and your family for a well deserved rest.
Thank you and all of our brave military serving around the world.
We are humbled by your service to our nation.
If there's one thing Iraqis know, it's TEXAS. I even see some Iraqi guards at checkpoints wearing cowboy hats. LOL
Thank you for your kind words.
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