Saddam Hussein sentenced to hang

BAGHDAD: A visibly shaken Saddam Hussein was found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to hang yesterday at a lightning session of the US-backed court trying him in Baghdad.

Two other senior aides, including his half-brother Barzan al-Tikriti, will also hang if their automatic appeals fail. His former vice-president was sentenced to life in prison and three minor Baath party officials received long sentences.

Baghdad's Shi'ite-led government welcomed the verdict.

"This is the least Saddam deserved," Ali al-Dabbagh, spokesman for Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, told Reuters.

At first refusing to stand before the judge, the 69-year-old ousted president, who has defiantly defended killing and torturing Shi'ite opponents, eventually rose shakily to his feet in the dock to hear the verdict and sentence read out.

As chief judge Raouf Abdul Rahman spoke, Saddam, his hands clenched behind his back, almost succeeded in drowning him out, yelling the Muslim battle cry of "Allahu Akbar!" (God is Greatest) and "Long Live Iraq!".

"The court has decided to sentence Saddam Hussein al-Majid to be hanged until he is dead for crimes against humanity," the judge said, ignoring a plea made by Saddam earlier in the trial that he should face a military firing squad, not the noose.

Abdul Rahman, prompted by the defence lawyers, ordered one of the guards around Saddam out of court for chewing gum and apparently laughing at the condemned man.

After more than a year of proceedings in the case involving the deaths of more than 148 Shi'ite men from the town of Dujail, there was little left to be said. Like his co-accused, Saddam was led away by guards after hearing his sentence. After just 45 minutes, Abdul Rahman wound up proceedings.

There was sporadic celebratory gunfire in Baghdad, notably from areas where the long oppressed Shi'ite majority live.

Maliki had called for calm in rejoicing but also said Saddam should get "what he deserves".

His government has been criticised for interfering in the case - notably by the first chief judge, who quit. Abdul Rahman's first act in court yesterday was to eject former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark after the veteran legal campaigner sent him a note describing the trial as a "mockery of justice".

The Iraqi High Tribunal also handed down death sentences to former revolutionary chief judge Awad Hamed al-Bander and to Saddam's half brother and former intelligence chief Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti. Former Iraqi vice president Taha Yassin Ramadan was sentenced to life in prison.

The fourth minor Baath party official from Dujail was acquitted on the prosecutor's request for lack of evidence.

The charges stemmed from the killing of 148 Shi'ite men in Dujail after an assassination attempt against Saddam in 1982.

A death sentence or life imprisonment generates an automatic appeal, delaying any execution by months at least.

As Shi'ites and Kurds began celebrations across Iraq, Malcolm Smart of human rights watchdog Amnesty International, said: "We deplore the verdict of the death penalty.

"We don't consider it was a fair process. The court was not impartial. There were not adequate steps taken to protect the security of defence lawyers and witnesses."

Iraq, Sunday, REUTERS