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Saddam: World responds
30/12/2006 08:36 - (SA)
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| The sun rises over Baghdad just after Iraqi state TV announced that ousted dictator Saddam Hussein had been executed just before dawn on December 30. (Ali Al-Saadi, AFP) |
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Baghdad - Saddam Hussein was hanged on Saturday for
crimes against humanity. Here are reactions to the news:
US PRESIDENT GEORGE W BUSH:
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.
FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTRY:
France, which advocates like all its European partners the
universal abolition of the death penalty, takes note of
Saddam Hussein's execution. That decision belongs to the Iraqi
people and to the Iraqi sovereign authorities. France calls
on to all Iraqis to look forward and to work for reconciliation
and national unity. More than ever the aim must be a return to
the full sovereignty and stability of Iraq.
AUSTRALIAN FOREIGN MINISTER ALEXANDER DOWNER:
The people of Iraq now know that their brutal dictator will
never come back to lead them.
While many will continue to grieve over their personal loss
under his rule, his death marks an important step in consigning
his tyrannical regime to the judgment of history and pursuing a
process of reconciliation now and in the future.
US DEMOCRATIC SENATOR JOSEPH BIDEN, INCOMING CHAIR OF
THE SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE:
Iraq has closed one of the darkest chapters in its history
and rid the world of a tyrant. Every effort was made to afford
Saddam the judicial rights he denied to the 148 innocent victims
of Dujail and to hundreds of thousands of other Iraqis during
his brutal reign. I hope that the families of his many victims
can now begin the healing process.
BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY MARGARET BECKETT:
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. He has now been held to
account.
RICHARD DICKER, DIRECTOR OF HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH:
The test of a government's commitment to human rights is
measured by the way it treats its worst offenders ... History
will judge the deeply flawed Dujail trial and this execution
harshly.
LARRY COX, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL USA:
The rushed execution of Saddam Hussein is simply wrong. It
signifies justice denied for countless victims who endured
unspeakable suffering during his regime, and now have been
denied their right to see justice served.
TOMOHIKO TANIGUCHI, DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY OF JAPAN'S
FOREIGN MINISTRY:
We have acknowledged that the judgment has been made
according to due process and pay respect to the legal procedures
that the Iraqi government has taken. That said, what is most
important in our view is to make this sentence not a new source
of conflict but of reconciliation between the Iraqi people.
INDIAN FOREIGN MINISTER PRANAB MUKHERJEE:
We had already expressed the hope that the execution would
not be carried out. We are disappointed that it has been. We
hope that this unfortunate event will not affect the process of
reconciliation, restoration of peace and normalcy in Iraq.
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO POLITICAL SCIENCE PROFESSOR CHARLES
LIPSON:
This will be a public accounting for the crimes that he and
his regime undertook systematically over many years, but sadly
it won't do much, I think, to set Iraq on a path to stability.
The nature of the internal divisions are too deep. Saddam's
execution won't be able to set right the problems that we
allowed to take root.
SETH JONES, POLITICAL SCIENTIST/TERRORISM EXPERT:
This means very little in the long run for the level of
violence over there. I expect this will trigger some revenge
killings. But the insurgency has been caused by so many factors
I don't think this will have any meaningful impact over the long
term.
LIAQAT BALUCH, A LEADER OF PAKISTAN'S SIX-PARTY OPPOSITION
ALLIANCE OF CONSERVATIVE RELIGIOUS PARTIES:
This will further increase hatred of America. No one liked
or supported Saddam Hussein here but the way he was tried was
improper and unjust. Saddam was a bad guy and he had to be tried
for his crimes but not that way.
America is trying to divide Iraq on sectarian lines. U.S.
forces are brutally killing civilians there.
BRAZIL FOREIGN MINISTRY:
(Brazil) does not believe carrying out this sentence will
contribute to bringing peace to Iraq.
- Reuters
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