Saddam Hussein to Hang

[Paratrooper01]

14:56, Sunday November 05, 2006

Angry, shaking and defiant, Saddam Hussein was sentenced to death this morning by hanging for ordering the massacre of Iraqi civilians.

"Allahu Akbar!" (God is Greatest) and "Long live the nation!", he shouted, pointing defiantly at the judge as the verdict was delivered.

Looking away in disgust, and then staring angrily back at the judge he continued to shout "Long live the people and death to their enemies. Long live the glorious nation, and death to its enemies!"

He had refused to stand for the verdict and had to be lifted to his feet by two court bailiffs.

"Make him stand," the judge ordered as the former president stayed seated.

He then stood in silence and waited for his fate to be announced to the world.

Saddam was convicted of ordering the deaths of 148 Shia men and teenage boys in the town of Dujail in 1982.

The killings followed a failed assassination attempt against him and were intended to act as a grim warning to others not to oppose him.


Saddam shouted defiantly as he was sentenced to death Saddam was on trial with seven co-accused:

Awad Hamed al Bander, former chief judge in Saddam's Revolutionary Court, has been sentenced to hang
Saddam's half-brother Barzan al Tikriti, head of the feared Mukhabarat intelligence service, was sentenced to hang
Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan was sentenced to life in prison
Three Ba'ath party officials were sentenced to 15 years in prison
Abdullah Kazim Ruwayyid, former Ba'ath official, given15 years
Mizhar Abdullah Ruwayyid, former Ba'ath official, given 15 years
Ali Dayih Ali, former Ba'ath official, given 15 years
Mohammed Azawi Ali, a Ba'ath party official in Dujail, was cleared.
Saddam is in the middle of a second crimes against humanity trial and the appeal against the Dujail death sentence will start on Monday, taking two months.

He had wanted to face a firing squad - that request was refused.

Celebratory gunfire echoed across Baghdad while fighting broke out in the north of the city.

Saddam's lawyer said the former president urged Iraqis "not to take revenge" on the US coalition and to "unify in the face of sectarian strike".

Sporadic violence has been reported in other parts of the country.

Amnesty International described the trial as a "shabby affair marred by serious flaws".

Security was stepped up in the capital in anticipation of a violent reaction to the verdict. Sunni supporters predicted a "firestorm" of violence.

Saddam, who was captured by US forces in December 2003, is still seen as the figurehead of many of the insurgent Sunni groups conducting a campaign of terror against Coalition troops and Iraqi civilians.

Defence minister Abdul Qader al Obeidi cancelled all army leave and recalled security forces already on holiday.

The trial is the first that Saddam has faced in the wake of his downfall.

It has been punctuated by walkouts, boycotts, hunger-strikes by Saddam and his co-defendants, the murder of three lawyers and the sacking of the original trial judge, who announced in court that he did not believe Saddam was a dictator.

It is possible the former Iraqi president's other trials for genocide and war crimes could now be brought forward.
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,, ... 48,00.html

Let the maniac hang i say.

Vote at the top, and all opinions on the matter go below.

[GreyWing]

let him back out for me, lets see how some of the shia hide behind the British then, Maqtadar El Sadr, lets see how hard he is then. He wouldn't be a freind of the foreign fighters either, the ones that are truely a danger to the UK interests

he might have been a bit ruthless but he knew what that country needed to maintain order, FEAR

Fear is why I pay my bills, Fear is why I drive safely, Fear is why I buy the mrs a bunch of flowers, fear isn't always a bad thing.

[jE^_^]

let him rot in prison... by killing him were as bad as him... let him rot in a cell, that would be more painful than puttin him out of his missery!?

[Paratrooper01]

Good point Greywing, except it cannot be done for political reasons. If Saddam went back into Iraq, George and Tony would be up sh*t creek without a paddle even more so than they are now! Why did we go into Iraq in the first place? Aparently to stop Saddams regime, so putting him back in just mean that all the hundreds of coalition soldiers would have died for nothing.

However, i believe you are right in saying fear is one of the greatest ways of managing and controling a nation. In this country i guess it is fear of being caught by the police, in Iraq it is the fear of torture and death that stopped the people from speaking their mind. Free speech has got to be one of the most basic of rights that everyone should enjoy in the world.

[GreyWing]

seen on newsnight the other day that shia's in baghdad were openly chanting for the return of Saddam, how bad must things have got up there for them to be shouting that?

I think Saddam had the same methods as I saw in marines training, Punish people for what they haven't done and people won't even dare to do something wrong, Worked with me.

I honestly don't know if george and tony are still living in different worlds from the rest of us, or they are really good actors. It's 50/50 for me. I think Saddam was our best allie in the whole region, even counting Isreal. Saddam was a logical survivor, his methods were based on logic and not a belief in some crackpot ideal of martydom. Iran feared him, Saudi's feared him, He was the one person that kept a lid on the whole region, we should have armed him never mind banged him up.

[Rogue Chef]

Ahoy there!

Amnesty International described the trial as a "shabby affair marred by serious flaws".

Amensty International? Yes, I remember them. Remember how they were tireless in their actions to protect the innocent persecuted by murderous dictators like Saddam and Mugabe? No? Neither do I!
But have a known terrorist forced to endure half an hour of enforced work in a legitimate prison and they are on the case.

[Tab]

Now I don't care if they hang him or not, what I do find odd is all those Politicians who are against Capital punishment over here actually agreeing with the death sentence. Now if they can support the death sentence there then why not over here.

[GreyWing]

His trial was fair, he ordered signed the death warrants of over 140 people,

compared to george bush who signed the death warrants of over 450 while governor of texas,

both were executing criminals in accordance with both their countries legal systems,

strange how one is in court and the other is a drink driving, war dodging chump monkey in charge of nucler weapons.

[foxtrotgolf]

I think he should rot in jail, he's caused too much misery to get an easy way out. He should suffer. That would be more just.

[GreyWing]

let him join up and live on the wages this government pay our forces if you want to see him suffer.

[Kiwi1988]

I want to see him swing from the nearest tree.

[Alfa]

His trial was fair, he ordered signed the death warrants of over 140 people,

compared to george bush who signed the death warrants of over 450 while governor of texas,

both were executing criminals in accordance with both their countries legal systems,

strange how one is in court and the other is a drink driving, war dodging chump monkey in charge of nucler weapons.

Do you actually realise who you're defending?

Saddam used nerve gas on entire villages killing thousands of innocent people including children, his so called "criminals" who you talk about where people who dared to voice opposition to him, what you just said about Tony Blair would be enough for a one way ticket to a torture chamber in Iraq under Saddam, but then using your logic you'd be a criminal wouldn't you so it'd be justified.

George Bush on the other hand signed the death warrents for murders and rapists etc... who were found guilty in a GENUINE court of law and an independant judge passed the death sentence.

So yeah you're right George Bush and Saddam are totally the same

[Paratrooper01]

We probably sold him the nerve gas.

[gtsco]

I voted no only because I don't think he should be hanged, Electric chair or lethal injection I would vote yes for though.

The guys really evil and all but I just don't think hanging him is the way a better more humane regime should execute someone, evil tyrant responsible for 1000's of deaths or murderer of 1 person. I read somewhere the sentence of hanging was justified according to Iraqi law but I just get the thought that it'll be a public execution with a gleeful mob of Iraqis' and possibly some Yanks and Brits. Course this is only what I imagine will happen but if it does what does it say for how far Iraq as a society has moved on from the brutal days of Saddam? I'm not saying people shouldn't be glad Saddam is put to death all I'm saying is surely if the new Iraqi government is so much better and more humane than Saddam's then shouldn't he be put to death in a more humane way if at all?

G

[duggers19]

I voted yes because saddam is a calais, vindictive guy who killed many inncocent people. If he hadn't of rulled Iraq in the first place then maybe we wudn't of had these troubles that are happening there.