Former Saddam judge says execution violates Iraqi law

[maddezmom]

SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq (AFP) - The first chief judge who presided over Saddam Hussein's trial for crimes against humanity has said that the late dictator's execution by the Iraqi government was illegal.

Rizkar Mohammed Amin, who later resigned as the trial's chief judge, said Iraqi law banned executions during the Eid al-Adha festival period that marks the end of the annual Hajj pilgrimage.

The four-day Feast of the Sacrifice began for Iraqi Sunnis on Saturday -- the day Saddam was hanged in Baghdad -- and on Sunday for Shiites.

Amin also claimed that Iraqi law stipulates an execution must be carried out 30 days after the appeal court's decision on the sentencing, which in this case upheld the death sentence of Saddam.

But in ratifying the death sentence on December 26, the appeals chamber insisted that the law stipulated the sentence be implemented within 30 days.



more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070101/wl_mideast_afp/iraqjusticesaddam_070101144532

[MADem]

1. The whole idea was to stick it to the sunnis, and that is what they did

They're making it clear in no uncertain terms that they control the agenda, and the only calendar that counts is their calendar. In essence, they sacrificed the juciest lamb to kick Eid off, and they did it with glee.

The entire execution was a farce. If there was any doubt about political motivations entering into the decision to rush the guy to the gallows, it was cleared up the moment that cellphone footage with sound was released.

This is going to come back and bite them in the ass one day. You don't hang a guy on a holy day, and when you do it on the guy's sect's holy day, as differentiated from their own, that looks, well, personal and vindictive.

And of course, the good ole US of A, bringing up the rear on all this...fucking clueless tools, handed the bastard over as Eid was beginning, so dumb as to not even have a hint of a clue what was going on, here, and how the shi'a were playing it. Or worse, if they did have a clue, they just couldn't care enough to pull the string and see where this 'rush to justice' exercise was actually leading.

[rodeodance]

4. and, the stick will stick US

[MADem]

11. Down the line, I expect so. Blowback from the blowback of the blowback.

Enough to give one a headache.

[ngant17]

7. looks like the old 'divide and conquer' strategy again

It's very likely IMO that an execution of Pres. Saddam on Eid was done exactly for the reason of increasing sectarian violence in Iraq. The Pentagon and Bush must be thinking it will work out in the long run to their advantage.

Who benefits the most? Not for most of the Iraqis on either side of the sects.

It's possible that Bush doesn't care who wins or loses, he couldn't care how many Americans or Iraqis are killed, because his friends in the military-industrial complex are the profiteers in the whole business of this never-ending war against terrorism.

[MADem]

13. This will spread past Iraq--this will turn into Arabs against Persians

because the shi'a religious leadership is based in Iran, and despite the makeup of the sects in Iraq, most of the Arab world is Sunni. The keepers of the Holy Places, the House of Saud, are the 'prime Sunnis.'

Already Libya is in the midst of a three day mourning period.

This was just a big fat mistake.

They needed Saddam gone, and they were willing to shortchange a bunch of entities with grievances against him, who wanted an opportunity to confront him and see him convicted for his offenses against them, to ensure that it happened FAST.

And fast, it happened. So fucking unprofessional, too...it was, as Riverbend termed it, a lynching, not an execution. All that "Go to hell" and the clowns in the audience chanting "Viva al-Sadr" like it was the Jerry Springer show....the damn fools made a martyrdom video, and they didn't even realize it. It will be awhile before they do realize it, I think.

[tanyev]

2. Whoopsie. Too late now.

[LiberalFighter]

3. I wonder where they learn to do things the way they want? bushie??

[Kagemusha]

5. See, they asked the Shiite bigshots if Saturday was kosher.

And they said yes. Because Eid isn't celebrated starting on Saturday for Shiites. Oh, sure, it is for Sunnis worldwide, but what does the Maliki government care about THAT?

Hence, it is kosher with Shiites and an enormous insult to Sunnis everywhere.

[texpatriot2004]

6. He should have faced real justice and not been killed for silence

by the Kangaroo Court headed by * and friends.

[LynnTheDem]

8. That's ok; invading Iraq and deposing Saddam was all illegal.

But the United States of America doesn't give a shit about laws anymore. Didn't Amin notice this?

[maddezmom]

12. I think he did, and that's why he resigned originally

due to interference from the Iraqi gov't and the US.

[SemperEadem]

9. well, it's a little late now to wail about it.

and there's no such thing as a 'shi'ite'... it's "shi'a". That's like calling Christians "chrisitites"--the word doesn't exist just because western media uses it dismissively to describe people they don't/won't understand.

[Strathos]

10. Well, it's not like they can take it back

What good does it do now? The law is broken, Saddam is dead.