Special report: Saddam Hussein's
Fate
Related story: Saddam Hussein sentenced to death
by hanging
BAGHDAD, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi appeals court
announced on Tuesday it had upheld the death sentence for the toppled president
Saddam Hussein and he would be executed within the next 30 days.
In a news conference held in Baghdad, Munir Hadad,
chief of Iraqi Appellate Court, told reporters that the court confirmed the
verdict to hang Saddam.
Under the Iraqi current law, the execution is
required to be carried out within the next 30 days and the government has the
right to choose the date, he said.
Hours earlier, Iraqi national security adviser
Mouwafak al-Rubaie and Iraqi Higher Tribunal spokesman Raed Juhi said that
Saddam's death sentence had been upheld.
Saddam was sentenced to death on Nov. 5 on crimes
against humanity for killing of 148 people in Dujail village following a failed
assassination attempt on him in 1982.
Saddam's half-brother Barzan al-Tikriti and former
judge Awadal-Bander got the death penalty over the Dujail killings. Their
appeals are also denied by the court, which meant that they will face the same
fate as Saddam.
Another defendant, former Vice President Taha Yassin
Ramadan, was sentenced to life in prison. The appeals court said he should be
executed.
Under the current Iraqi law, the decision of the
appeals court must be ratified by a panel comprising President Jalal Talabani
and two vice presidents. Talabani has said that he would not sign death
warrants, but would leave such a job to his vice presidents.
Saddam is facing the second trial of Anfal campaign,
in which he is accused of killing thousands of Kurds. However, Iraqi officials
have said Saddam would be executed regardless of that case.
However, many Iraqis fear the execution of Saddam
would definitely result in an upsurge of violence, which will push the country
closer to a full-scale civil war.
On Tuesday, a spate of assorted violence killed at
least 47Iraqis and wounded some 109 others.
Three simultaneous car bombs exploded at the rush
hour in a busy intersection in the Baiyaa district in southwestern Baghdad,
killing at least 25 people and wounding 55 others.
A car bomb exploded near a Sunni mosque in northern
Baghdad in the evening, leaving 15 people killed and 35 others wounded.
Meanwhile, some five people were killed and 15 others
wounded when a roadside bomb detonated at the Baghdad Souq al-Haraj market in
Bab al-Sharji area, an Interior ministry source said.
Earlier on Tuesday, three roadside bombs exploded in
quick succession which killed a police lieutenant colonel and wounded four civil
defense personnel, four policemen and an ambulanceman, the source said.
On the same day, unknown gunmen shot dead Maj. Gen.
Imad Muhsen Jaafar, director general in the Iraqi Interior Ministry, while
driving his car in the Maghrib Street in Adhamiyah neighborhood.
Moreover, the U.S. military said in a statement that
seven of its soldiers were killed in Iraq on Tuesday.
Three of the U.S. soldiers were killed when a
roadside bomb went off near their patrol in north west of Baghdad, another was
killed when their vehicle rolled over along a dirt canal trail during a combat
reconnaissance mission south of Baghdad.
On Monday, three U.S. soldiers were killed and three
others wounded in two roadside bomb attacks in Baghdad.
Media reports said that at least 90 U.S. military
personnel died in Iraq in December till now.
The latest deaths bring the number of U.S. fatalities
in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion to 2,979, according to media count based
on Pentagon figures.
Saddam wants no more sessions in genocide
trial
BAGHDAD, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- Former Iraqi President
Saddam Hussein has written a letter saying he does not want to attend any more
sessions in his Kurdish genocide trial, his defense team said on Tuesday.
In the handwritten letter released by his defense
team, Saddam accused Chief Judge Muhammad Ureibi of being biased on him and his
lawyers, complaining that "I wasn't given the chance to speak whenI tried to
clarify the truth, so I say that my spirit cannot bear this." Full story>>
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