Saddam to get death if guilty
2004-06-30 14:29
Rome - Ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein will get the death penalty if he is found guilty of the serious crimes levelled against him, Iraq's interim Justice Minister Malek Dohan al-Hassan said in a newspaper interview on Wednesday.
He told the Italian daily Repubblica that the new interim government in Baghdad had just approved a decree reinstating the death penalty, which had been abolished by Paul Bremer, who until Monday was the US civil administrator in Iraq.
"We are reinstating the death penalty. We are a sovereign state ... We have the right and the duty to re-establish the instruments which we deem the most useful," Hassna said.
"If the evidence proves the serious crimes that he (Saddam) is accused of, then the special court set up during the occupation could sentence him to death" the minister said.
"For crimes against humanity, genocide, use of chemical weapons, we can use capital punishment," he stressed.
"We are in in an emergency situation. We are facing a ferocious enemy which wants to destroy (our) budding democracy and freedom," he said.
Iraq's interim government took legal custody of Saddam and 11 top members of his ousted regime earlier on Wednesday from the US-led military. The 12 are due to be appear on Thursday before the Special Iraqi Tribunal.