Saddam Hussein Is Sentenced to Death - New York Times

An Iraqi special tribunal today convicted Saddam Hussein of crimes against humanity for the brutal repression of a Shiite town in the 1980s and sentenced him to death by hanging.

As the verdict was read, Mr. Hussein shouted, "Long live the people! Long live the Arab nation! Down with the spies!" He then chanted "God is great" several times. The chief judge, Raouf Abdul Rahman, tried to calm Mr. Hussein down. "There's no point," he said.

The five-judge panel, which heard more than nine months of testimony in the case, also issued death sentences for two of Mr. Hussein's seven co-defendants, Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, Mr. Hussein's half-brother, who was head of Iraq's domestic intelligence agency; and Awad al-Bandar, president of Mr. Hussein's revolutionary court.

For many Iraqis, the verdicts represented a moment of triumph and catharsis after decades of suffering under Mr. Hussein's tyrannical rule.

In spite of an intense security clampdown that barred vehicles and pedestrians from the street, public celebration broke out around Iraq. People danced and cheered on the street, sounded car horns and fired guns into the air, a standard gesture of celebration here.

At the same time, fighting broke out between gunmen and the Iraqi Army in the predominantly Sunni Arab neighborhood of Adhamiya in northeastern Baghdad, according to an Interior Ministry official. Angry demonstrations against the verdict erupted in Tikrit, Mr. Hussein's birthplace and a bastion of support for the Sunni Arab-led insurgency. Iraqi and American security forces have been bracing for a violent reaction among Mr. Hussein's armed supporters, who constitute a significant corps within the insurgency. Iraq's security forces were put on high alert beginning Saturday night and an American fighter plane circled high above the city throughout the day Sunday.

The American ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, hailed the verdicts as "an important milestone in the building of a free society" in Iraq.

"Although the Iraqis may face difficult days in the coming weeks, closing the book on Saddam and his regime is an opportunity to unite and build a better future," he said in a written statement.

Under Iraqi law, death sentences automatically trigger an appeal to the appellate chamber of the trial court, so any executions would likely be subject to a delay of at least several months and possibly as much as a year.

The long-awaited verdicts came nearly three years after Mr. Hussein was pulled from an underground hideaway by American troops, and more than a year after he and his seven co-defendants first appeared in an Iraqi court to face charges of orchestrating what the prosecution called a "widespread and systematic persecution" of the townspeople of Dujail, 35 miles north of Baghdad.

The case centered on the execution of 148 men and boys from the town after an alleged assassination attempt against Mr. Hussein by men firing from a nearby orchard on July 8, 1982. Mr. Hussein's lawyers contended at the trial that the would-be assassins were Iranian-backed Shiite militants, and that he was justified in ordering the crackdown on the town because Iraq was at war with Iran at the time.

Taha Yassin Ramadan, a former vice president under Mr. Hussein and the leader of the Popular Army, a Baath Party militia at the time of the Dujail events, was sentenced to life in prison for his involvement in the crimes. Three local Baath Party officials — Abdullah Kadhim Ruweid, his son Mizher Abdullah Ruweid and Ali Dayeh Ali — were sentenced to 22 years in prison for murder and torture. Another defendant and minor Baath Party official, Mohammed Azawi Ali, was acquitted.

Mr. Hussein was led into the courtroom at about noon wearing his customary trial attire of a charcoal-colored suit and open-necked white shirt. He began shouting almost immediately.

"I'll listen to the judgment but I won't stand up," Mr. Hussein declared. The judge ordered him to stand up. Mr. Hussein only stood up when the court marshals entered the defendants' dock.

Saddam, 2 Others Sentenced to Death

Associated Press

Sun Nov 5

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