Special report: Saddam Hussein's Fate

Ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein reacts in court during the Anfal genocide trial in Baghdad December 21, 2006. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery >>>

    WASHINGTON, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. judge on Friday refused a request to stay the imminent execution of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, U.S. media reported.

    After a hearing over the telephone with attorneys, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said the former Iraqi president's application for "immediate, temporary stay of execution" was denied.

    Hussein's lawyers filed the court challenge late Friday night, giving the judge just hours to act before the execution was expected to be carried out, according to the Associated Press.

    The lawyers said that because Saddam Hussein also faced a civil lawsuit in Washington, he had rights as a civil defendant that would be violated if he is executed, but Kollar-Kotelly said U.S. courts did not have jurisdiction to interfere in another country¡¯s judicial process, the Associated Press reported.

Saddam could be executed at dawn Saturday

    BAGHDAD, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- A top Iraqi official said Friday Saddam Hussein will be executed between 5:30 a.m. to 6 a.m. on Saturday, an Iraqi television reported.

    The television Freedom Iraq quoted an Iraqi official as saying that the former president would be hanged at dawn Saturday between 5:30 a.m.(0230GMT) to 6 a.m. (0300 GMT). 

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