Saddam Sentenced To Death

The ousted dictator responded to his death sentence by shouting, “God is great!”

Saddam, his half brother, and another former official in his regime were sentenced to hang for the murders of 148 people in the town of Dujail in 1982, following an assassination attempt on the former leader.

Three of his co-defendants received jail sentences and a seventh was acquitted. (See below)

The former leader’s defence team plans to appeal the verdict within 30 days. The death sentences automatically go to a nine-judge appeals panel that has unlimited time to review the case. If it decides to uphold the sentences, the executions must be carried out within 30 days.

Iraqi authorities imposed a curfew and beefed up security across Baghdad in the days leading up to the verdict in an effort to curb sectarian violence that’s been plaguing the country. A curfew had been imposed, extra checkpoints were put in place and all leave for military personnel had been cancelled.

After the court hearing, one of Saddam’s lawyers called on Iraqis to keep the peace and not to take revenge against U.S. forces.

“His message to the Iraqi people was `pardon and do not take revenge on the invading nations and their people’,” lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi said. “The president also asked his countrymen to `unify in the face of sectarian strife.”‘

Violence broke out almost immediately in Baghdad’s Sunni Azamiyah district after the verdict was announced and there was gunfire in other areas of the capital, but it was celebratory.

There were also celebrations in the city where the massacre occurred more than two decades ago.  Dujail residents burned pictures of the former dictator and celebrated in the streets.

The tone was much different in Saddam’s hometown of Tikrit, where residents defied the curfew and declared the court that convicted their former leader was a product of the American “occupation forces” and condemned the verdict.

Saddam remained defiant through much of his trial and U.S. officials said that may have played a role in his conviction and sentence.

In an outburst on March 1 Saddam told the court that ordering the deaths of the 148 Shiites was legal because the government suspected an assassination attempt against him.

“The verdict placed on the heads of the former regime does not represent a verdict for any one person. It is a verdict on a whole dark era that has was unmatched in Iraq’s history,” Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Sunday.

The sentences are served concurrently in cases where a defendant received more than one conviction and sentence:

Saddam Hussein, former Iraqi president:

• Guilty of murder, sentenced to death.
• Guilty of forced deportation, sentenced to 10 years in prison.
• Guilty of torture, sentenced to 10 years in prison

Barzan Ibrahim, Saddam’s half brother and former intelligence chief:

• Guilty of murder, sentenced to death.
• Guilty of forced deportation, sentenced to 10 years in prison.
• Guilty of torture, sentenced to 10 years in prison

Awad Hamed al-Bandar, former head of the Revolutionary Court:

• Guilty of murder, sentenced to death

Taha Yassin Ramadan, former Iraqi vice-president:

• Guilty of murder, sentenced to life in prison.
• Guilty of forced deportation, sentenced to 10 years in prison.
• Guilty of torture, sentenced to seven years in prison.
• Guilty of inhumane acts, sentenced to seven years in prison.

Abdullah Kazim Ruwayyid, former Baath party official:

• Guilty of murder, sentenced to 15 years in prison.
• Guilty of torture, sentenced to seven years in prison. (Sentences run concurrently so he will serve 15 years).

Mizhar Abdullah Ruwayyid, former Baath official:

• Guilty of murder, sentenced to 15 years in prison.
• Guilty of torture, sentenced to seven years in prison. (Sentences run concurrently so he will serve 15 years)

Ali Dayih Ali, former Baath official:

• Guilty of murder, sentenced to 15 years in prison.
• Guilty of torture, sentenced to seven years in prison. (Sentences run concurrently so he will serve 15 years.)

Mohammed Azawi Ali, former Baath official:

• Acquitted of all charges and ordered released from custody immediately.

Key moments in Saddam Hussein’s trial on charges stemming from the 1982 killings of nearly 150 Shiite Muslims in Dujail, Iraq:
  
2005:

June 17: First criminal case filed against Saddam and seven co-defendants, charged in the deaths of about 150 Shiites after a 1982 assassination attempt against the president in Dujail.
Oct. 19: Trial begins, with Saddam challenging the court’s legitimacy.
Oct. 20: Masked gunmen kidnap defence lawyer Saadoun al-Janabi after he leaves his Baghdad office. His body is found the next day with bullet holes in the head.
Nov. 8: Defence lawyer Adel al-Zubeidi is killed in a Baghdad ambush and a colleague, Thamir al-Khuzaie, is wounded. Al-Khuzaie flees the country.
Nov. 28: Trial reconvenes after five-week recess, and Saddam calls Americans “occupiers and invaders.” He and two other defendants complain about treatment by their U.S. captors.
Dec. 4: One of the five judges steps down after learning that a Saddam co-defendant may have been involved in his brother’s execution.
Dec. 5: Defence lawyers walk out when denied right to challenge court’s legitimacy; chief judge then reverses ruling and allows former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, a member of Saddam’s defence team, to speak.
Dec. 7: Saddam refuses to attend, a day after yelling: “I will not come to an unjust court! Go to hell!”
Dec. 21: Saddam claims Americans beat and tortured him and other defendants, and prays openly in court despite judge’s order for trial to proceed.
  
2006:

Jan. 15: Chief judge Rizgar Amin, a Kurd, resigns after complaints by Shiite politicians that he had failed to keep control of court proceedings.
Jan. 23: Court officials name Raouf Abdul-Rahman, another Kurd, to replace Amin.
June 21: Defence lawyer Khamis al-Obeidi is abducted and slain.
July 7: Saddam and three others refuse food to protest lack of security for lawyers and conduct of the trial.
July 23: Saddam is hospitalized on the 17th day of his hunger strike and fed through a tube.
July 27: Dujail trial adjourns.
Nov. 5: Verdict delivered.