News & Politics - Hussein sentenced to death by hanging

S.A.S.H.A. · 11-05-2006, 02:22 AM

Saddam Hussein sentenced to death

Quote:

US-sponsored Iraqi tribunal sentences former dictator to death by hanging Sunday for crimes against humanity. Court also hands down death sentences to two of Saddam's senior aides

A US-backed Iraqi court on Sunday sentenced toppled leader Saddam Hussein to death by hanging for crimes against humanity.

The ousted president, visibly shaken, shouted out "Allahu Akbar!" (God is Greatest) and "Long live the nation!".

The Iraqi High Tribunal also handed down death sentences to former revolutionary chief judge Awad Hamed al-Bander and 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 charges stemmed from the killing of 148 Shiite 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. Saddam has said he wants to face a military firing squad, not the hangman.

On Saturday, Iraq's prime minister urged his countrymen to accept the verdict against Saddam Hussein without violence, then in the next breath declared that the former dictator must get "what he deserves" with the decision that could send him to the gallows.

Nouri al-Maliki - the highly partisan Shiite Muslim prime minister who was forced into years of exile during Saddam's Sunni-dominated rule - imposed an open-ended curfew on Baghdad and two nearby provinces, and closed the international airport until further notice.

Checkpoints went up across Baghdad, and many cities and towns to the north were sealed by Saturday morning to keep residents in and potential attackers out.

The onerous measures threatened gunmen or anyone who ventured out with being shot on sight. Residents scrambled to stock up on food to wait it out indoors, and streets emptied by nightfall.

Sasha

Lexis · 11-05-2006, 03:12 AM

Can't say I'm sorry. I hope that this doesn't spark off more trouble though - I heard Baghdad is on the highest state of alert in case anything starts.

goodnightboy · 11-05-2006, 03:48 AM

Is this for real?

wow. I always thought it was one of those trials that would go on forever, yes, I'm a cynic. I'm glad he's getting what he deserves (death). Let's hope it doesn't drag on for that much longer. And that violence doesn't start, I don't know if death is good enough for all the atrocities he did, but that's what he's getting and we should be content with that.

**sum1** · 11-05-2006, 04:41 AM

Glad about the verdict, not so glad about the appeals or about the trouble this'll probably cause.

chicah · 11-05-2006, 06:05 AM

Death shouldn't be a punishment, and for lots of people it isn't. Death sentence doesn't scare people from doing whatever they want to do. I think he should rather spend the rest of his natural-born days behind bars, then maybe a couple of years before he died he would realize what he's done. Now he'll think he dies with his honour, that he'd die as a martyr for his country. Letting him sit in jail though, vulnerable and helpless, reduced to nothing but a prisoner, THAT would be humiliating and a fitting punishment.

Hanging is so 13th century. We live in the 20th centry now, just to enlighten people.

jalapeno_wildchild · 11-05-2006, 08:44 AM

was there a doubt in anyone's mind that he might be found innocent? i'm glad he'll pay for the crimes he's comitted however i agree with Lexis that the hangings could start more trouble.

Lexis · 11-05-2006, 09:05 AM

Well so far, people seem to be celebrating. Hopefully it stays peaceful like that. But in some places...

'

Quote:

In Tikrit, deep in the Sunni heartland north of Baghdad where support for Saddam runs hand-in-hand with deep distrust of Iraq's new Shiite-dominated government, gunshots rang out from rooftops and street corners as Saddam addressed the court. Sunni insurgents with AK-47s and heavy machine guns paraded in scores of vehicles in defiance of the curfew. A crowd about 1,000, including some policemen and many people holding aloft pictures of Saddam, chanted: "We will avenge you Saddam."

"The violence will only rise in the area after the hanging of Saddam, but the Americans care nothing about spilled Iraqi blood," said Mohammed Abbas, a 60-year-old retired teacher. "We are tribal people ... when any ordinary member of our tribe is killed, we will kill one from the enemy tribe, to say nothing of an important person like Saddam," Abbas said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061105/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

Its the policeman protesting like this that bothers me. If they are bent on revenge and they have access to those they deem "responsible"...it doesn't bear thinking about.

**sum1** · 11-05-2006, 11:27 AM

SoLongSelf · 11-05-2006, 12:04 PM

I'm just glad the trial is finally over. Saddam certainly caused quite the ruckus throughout his trial.

Jacob1983 · 11-05-2006, 01:03 PM

It couldn't have happened to a nicer guy, lol. Saddam definately deserves to be put to death considering he killed hundreds of thousands of his own people.

COOLCAT200 · 11-05-2006, 01:22 PM

I am very pleased to hear Saddom was sentenced to death. He is a murdering monster and I am glad he will be hung along with the other 2 murders.

S.A.S.H.A. · 11-05-2006, 01:27 PM

Agreed sum1.

One thing I don't like about the US' death penalty is that it can take decades, and sometimes the convicted criminal dies of natural causes while waiting. Such a waste of space.

Sasha

chicah · 11-05-2006, 01:39 PM

Wow, you guys scare me. If it's such a great thing, how come most other countries condemn it?
The countries who have commented on it this far are against him getting executed, human rights groups are against him getting executed. I just found on a news page that our governemnt is sorry about the death penalty and thinks he should rather be sentenced to life and I couldn't agree more. Just glad that we finally have a government that's not so USA-ass licking as the last one we had.

S.A.S.H.A. · 11-05-2006, 01:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chicah (View Post)

human rights groups are against him getting executed

Well see, I am of the opinion that if one commits an atrocious crime, one is not worthy of human rights.

Sasha

Jacob1983 · 11-05-2006, 01:50 PM

Amen to that. I mean no one got mad when Tim McVeigh was executed. What makes Saddam any better?


Fan Forum > General Discussion > News & Politics > Hussein sentenced to death by hanging