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Saddam hanging sparks doubts
30/12/2006 12:56 - (SA)
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| This video image released by Iraqi state television shows Saddam Hussein's guards wearing ski masks and placing a noose around the deposed leader's neck moments before his execution Saturday December 30 2006. Clutching a Quran and refusing a hood, Saddam Hussein went to the gallows before sunrise. (AP) |
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Paris - US President George W Bush said that Saddam Hussein had received the kind of justice he denied his victims but some key US allies expressed discomfort at the execution of the former Iraqi dictator.
Bush, who ordered the March 20 2003 invasion to oust the dictator, was asleep at his Texas ranch when the hanging of Saddam was carried out in Baghdad, the White House said.
He called the execution "an important milestone" on the road to building an Iraqi democracy though he warned it would not end the deadly violence there.
The US president said in a statement that Saddam "was executed after receiving a fair trial - the kind of justice he denied the victims of his brutal regime."
"Fair trials were unimaginable under Saddam Hussein's tyrannical rule," said Bush calling the trial "a testament to the Iraqi people's resolve to move forward after decades of oppression."
The execution came three years and nine months after US-led invasion to remove Saddam from power.
Bush acknowledged that the event came "at the end of a difficult year for the Iraqi people and for our troops."
"Bringing Saddam Hussein to justice will not end the violence in Iraq, but it is an important milestone on Iraq's course to becoming a democracy that can govern, sustain, and defend itself," he said.
"Many difficult choices and further sacrifices lie ahead," he warned referring to the mounting toll among Iraqis and US troops.
Opposition to death penalty
Britain, the main US ally in Iraq, said Saddam Hussein had been "held to account" but reiterated its opposition to the use of the death penalty, as did Australia another key supporter of the US invasion.
"I welcome the fact that Saddam Hussein has been tried by an Iraqi court for at least some of the appalling crimes he committed against the Iraqi people," said British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett.
"He has now been held to account. The British government does not support the use of the death penalty, in Iraq or anywhere else. We advocate an end to the death penalty worldwide, regardless of the individual or the crime.
"We have made our position very clear to the Iraqi authorities, but we respect their decision as that of a sovereign nation."
Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said: "No matter what one might think about the death penalty, and the government of Iraq is aware of the Australian government's position on capital punishment, we must also respect the right of sovereign states to pass judgement relating to crimes committed against their people, within their jurisdictions."
Downer added in a statement: "He has been brought to justice, following a process of fair trial and appeal, something he denied to countless thousands of victims of his regime."
Japan, another close US ally, said it respected Iraq's decision. "This is a decision made by Iraq's new government on the rule of law," a foreign ministry official said in Tokyo. "We respect it."
France, which led opposition at the United Nations to the invasion, called on Iraqis to use the execution as a means to end their divisions.
National unity
"France calls upon all Iraqis to look towards the future and work towards reconciliation and national unity. Now more than ever, the objective should be a return to full sovereignty and stability in Iraq," the French foreign ministry said in a statement.
While highlighting Europe's opposition to capital punishment, France noted that the execution decision "was made by the people and the sovereign authorities of Iraq."
Lawmakers in Russia, which also opposed the invasion, said the execution would increase instability in Iraq.
"This is going to cause a new spiral" of violence, said Mikhail Margelov, head of the international relations committee in the upper chamber of the Russian parliament.
"The execution of Hussein will destabilise the situation, not only in Iraq but in the whole Gulf region," added a deputy in the lower chamber, Leonid Slutski, quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency.
Execution could trigger more bloodshed
Malaysia, a leading Muslim nation, also warned the execution of Saddam could trigger more bloodshed.
"A lot of people, the international community generally, are not in favour of the hanging and question the due process that took place," Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar, whose country is current chair of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, told AFP.
"We are surprised that they went ahead notwithstanding.
"I think there will be repercussions. The only thing is we hope they will be able to contain this. Because the conflict is not going to end. This is not the answer."
National mourning
Libya on Saturday declared three days of national mourning after the execution of Iraqi ex-president Saddam Hussein who had been a "prisoner of war," official media said.
Flags were lowered to half staff on public buildings and all festivities for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha which begins this weekend have been cancelled, the Jana news agency added.
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