BabyTigger99
<font color=CC00cc>The most beautiful words in the
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- Jun 18, 2002
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He is now in the custody of the Iraqi people, and will not make it to the new year.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,239783,00.html
Saddam Hussein Transferred to Iraqi Custody; Judge Says He'll Be Executed by Saturday
Friday, December 29, 2006
Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein
BAGHDAD, Iraq — Saddam Hussein's date with death appears to be just hours away. The former president of Iraq will be hanged by Saturday at the latest, an Iraqi judge said Friday night in Baghdad.
The U.S. has turned over custody of the mass murderer to Iraqi officials, one of the last steps necessary before the execution, Saddam's chief lawyer told FOX News.
An unnamed Iraqi government official in Baghdad told the Associated Press that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had signed the Butcher of Baghdad's death warrant.
"There is no reason for delays," said Munir Haddad, an Iraqi judge on the appeals court that reviewed Saddam's case. He said the execution will occur by Saturday.
A U.S. source in Baghdad said Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki wanted to carry out execution as early as Thursday night, but that it was delayed for logistical reasons, and because of confusion over the Iraqi constitution and the law that governs the tribunal that convicted him of murder.
Al-Maliki said "our respect for human rights requires us to execute him, and there will be no review or delay in carrying out the sentence."
"Nothing and nobody can abrogate the ruling" upholding Saddam's sentence, al-Maliki said.
Iraqi General Abdl Kareem Khalaf told FOX News emergency procedures have been implemented in the former dictator's Salahadin province, where Saddam's hometown of Tikrit is, as well as Diyala and Mosul provinces, which have Sunni majorities. The emergency measures include more Iraqi army and police forces and more checkpoints.
Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, said U.S. forces were on high alert.
"They'll obviously take into account social dimensions that could potentially led to an increase in violence which certainly would include carrying out the sentence of Saddam Hussein," Whitman said.
Iraqi officials reported that two half-brothers visited Saddam in his jail cell on Thursday, and Khalil al-Dulaimi, Saddam's chief lawyer, said U.S. officials had called him to pick up the personal effects.
"Upon his request, his two half brothers ... were brought to him and spent some time in his cell," Badee Izzat Aref, a member of Saddam's defense team, told The Associated Press in a telephone call from Dubai.
"Saddam handed his brothers his personal belongings," Aref said.
A senior commander at the Iraqi defense ministry also confirmed the meeting, and said that Saddam handed over his will to one of his half-brothers.
A spokesman for the High Tribunal court that convicted Saddam denied that Saddam's relatives visited him.
Iraq's highest court on Tuesday rejected Saddam's appeal against his conviction and death sentence for the killing of 148 Shiites in the northern city of Dujail in 1982. The court said the former dictator should be hanged within 30 days.
Saddam's attorney made another appeal to stop his execution. "According to the international conventions, it is forbidden to hand a prisoner of war to his adversary," al-Dulaimi said.
"I urge all the international and legal organizations, the United Nations secretary-general, the Arab League and all the leaders of the world to rapidly prevent the American administration from handing the president to the Iraqi authorities," he told The Associated Press.
Cardinal Renato Martino, Pope Benedict XVI's top prelate for justice issues and a former Vatican envoy to the U.N., condemned the death sentence in a newspaper interview published Thursday, saying capital punishment goes against the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.
After Saddam's death sentence was handed down last month, Louise Arbour, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, urged Iraq to ensure a fair appeals process and to refrain from executing Saddam even if the sentence is upheld.
Some international legal observers and human rights groups have also called Saddam's trial unfair because of alleged interference by the Shiite-dominated government. There has also been internal debate among Iraqis about legal procedures surrounding the timeframe and whether the presidency is required to approve the execution.
"The law does not say within 30 days, it says after the lapse of 30 days," said Busho Ibrahim, deputy justice minister. There was no immediate explanation for the conflicting claims.
Al-Dulaimi warned that turning over Saddam to the Iraqis would increase the sectarian violence that already is tearing the country apart.
"If the American administration insists in handing the president to the Iraqis, it would commit a great strategic mistake which would lead to the escalation of the violence in Iraq and the eruption of a destructive civil war," he said.
In Washington, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said there was concern about the potential for violence in carrying out the execution.
"I'm sure the Iraqi government is thinking through that and working with the coalition in terms of the impact that could have."
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,239783,00.html
Saddam Hussein Transferred to Iraqi Custody; Judge Says He'll Be Executed by Saturday
Friday, December 29, 2006
Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein
BAGHDAD, Iraq — Saddam Hussein's date with death appears to be just hours away. The former president of Iraq will be hanged by Saturday at the latest, an Iraqi judge said Friday night in Baghdad.
The U.S. has turned over custody of the mass murderer to Iraqi officials, one of the last steps necessary before the execution, Saddam's chief lawyer told FOX News.
An unnamed Iraqi government official in Baghdad told the Associated Press that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had signed the Butcher of Baghdad's death warrant.
"There is no reason for delays," said Munir Haddad, an Iraqi judge on the appeals court that reviewed Saddam's case. He said the execution will occur by Saturday.
A U.S. source in Baghdad said Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki wanted to carry out execution as early as Thursday night, but that it was delayed for logistical reasons, and because of confusion over the Iraqi constitution and the law that governs the tribunal that convicted him of murder.
Al-Maliki said "our respect for human rights requires us to execute him, and there will be no review or delay in carrying out the sentence."
"Nothing and nobody can abrogate the ruling" upholding Saddam's sentence, al-Maliki said.
Iraqi General Abdl Kareem Khalaf told FOX News emergency procedures have been implemented in the former dictator's Salahadin province, where Saddam's hometown of Tikrit is, as well as Diyala and Mosul provinces, which have Sunni majorities. The emergency measures include more Iraqi army and police forces and more checkpoints.
Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, said U.S. forces were on high alert.
"They'll obviously take into account social dimensions that could potentially led to an increase in violence which certainly would include carrying out the sentence of Saddam Hussein," Whitman said.
Iraqi officials reported that two half-brothers visited Saddam in his jail cell on Thursday, and Khalil al-Dulaimi, Saddam's chief lawyer, said U.S. officials had called him to pick up the personal effects.
"Upon his request, his two half brothers ... were brought to him and spent some time in his cell," Badee Izzat Aref, a member of Saddam's defense team, told The Associated Press in a telephone call from Dubai.
"Saddam handed his brothers his personal belongings," Aref said.
A senior commander at the Iraqi defense ministry also confirmed the meeting, and said that Saddam handed over his will to one of his half-brothers.
A spokesman for the High Tribunal court that convicted Saddam denied that Saddam's relatives visited him.
Iraq's highest court on Tuesday rejected Saddam's appeal against his conviction and death sentence for the killing of 148 Shiites in the northern city of Dujail in 1982. The court said the former dictator should be hanged within 30 days.
Saddam's attorney made another appeal to stop his execution. "According to the international conventions, it is forbidden to hand a prisoner of war to his adversary," al-Dulaimi said.
"I urge all the international and legal organizations, the United Nations secretary-general, the Arab League and all the leaders of the world to rapidly prevent the American administration from handing the president to the Iraqi authorities," he told The Associated Press.
Cardinal Renato Martino, Pope Benedict XVI's top prelate for justice issues and a former Vatican envoy to the U.N., condemned the death sentence in a newspaper interview published Thursday, saying capital punishment goes against the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.
After Saddam's death sentence was handed down last month, Louise Arbour, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, urged Iraq to ensure a fair appeals process and to refrain from executing Saddam even if the sentence is upheld.
Some international legal observers and human rights groups have also called Saddam's trial unfair because of alleged interference by the Shiite-dominated government. There has also been internal debate among Iraqis about legal procedures surrounding the timeframe and whether the presidency is required to approve the execution.
"The law does not say within 30 days, it says after the lapse of 30 days," said Busho Ibrahim, deputy justice minister. There was no immediate explanation for the conflicting claims.
Al-Dulaimi warned that turning over Saddam to the Iraqis would increase the sectarian violence that already is tearing the country apart.
"If the American administration insists in handing the president to the Iraqis, it would commit a great strategic mistake which would lead to the escalation of the violence in Iraq and the eruption of a destructive civil war," he said.
In Washington, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said there was concern about the potential for violence in carrying out the execution.
"I'm sure the Iraqi government is thinking through that and working with the coalition in terms of the impact that could have."
And gives another excuse for violence. 
