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Saddam sentenced to hang (i know it's not music related but still..)


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Shaken Saddam sentenced to hang

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - An Iraqi court sentenced a shaken but defiant Saddam Hussein to hang on Sunday for crimes against humanity, sparking joy for Shi'ites he oppressed and resentment among his fellow Sunnis across Iraq's violent sectarian divide.

As mortar rounds crashed on warring Baghdad neighbourhoods and police reported sporadic clashes despite a curfew on the capital, Shi'ite Prime Minister

Nuri al-Maliki called for unity after the ousted leader was handed "the punishment he deserves".

The United States, which set up the court after its invasion toppled Saddam in 2003, called it "a good day for the Iraqi people". U.S. officials again dismissed charges the verdict was timed to aid President George W. Bush's Republicans at elections on Tuesday that have been dominated by dismay at Iraq's turmoil.

Defence lawyers, who said they saw little hope from an appeal in the coming months, dismissed it as "victor's justice".

Saddam, 69, initially refused to stand when brought in to hear the verdict from Kurdish chief judge Raouf Abdul Rahman, at a quickfire, 45-minute hearing. When he did, shakily, with clear emotion, he yelled the defiant Arab battle cry "Allahu Akbar!" (God is Greatest) and "Long live Iraq" as the judgement was read.

Goodness me this Shocks me right to the core! i don't know why, but it really gives me a jolt everytime i read it. I know it's not misic related news, but it quite importent news so there it is.

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When mum told me about this i really did feel sick. I mean, i do think he deserves to die, but hanging just seems so insanely horrible. Like, can't they just like gas him or shoot him or something. or just keep him locked up in a room until he dies naturally? Hanging just seems so....(can't think of a good word)

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When mum told me about this i really did feel sick. I mean, i do think he deserves to die, but hanging just seems so insanely horrible. Like, can't they just like gas him or shoot him or something. or just keep him locked up in a room until he dies naturally? Hanging just seems so....(can't think of a good word)

yeah i agree. It seems horrible that some one should be dangling by thier neck in the air until some one thinks "it's time to cut them down now"...

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Yes. Saddam kiled people and that is wrong but if killing people is wrong then to kill him is wrong, but what else should you do to some one like him?? I'm not conveinced he's all human...

I think it's too easy to say that he's no human, of course he is... so was Hitler, btw

and imo, it's a good idea to always remember that. All these crimes, as awfull and sickening they may be, were still committed by humans, just like you and me...

And this was his sentence to ONE of his crimes, what will they do for the numerous other ones?

maybe somthing like the "Double Death-Penalty" like in Iran and/or Saudi-Arabia (I forgot which one) :P :crazy: :P

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Article on Spiegel Online

World Divided Over Saddam Sentence

The conviction of Saddam Hussein is dividing the world. The United States, Britain and the Iraqi government praised the verdict but the European Union said it fundamentally opposes the death penalty and Amnesty International said the whole trial was flawed.

Disagreement about the death penalty has led to a divided world reaction to Sunday's conviction of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, sentenced by a US-backed court to hang for crimes against humanity.

US President George W. Bush hailed it as a "milestone in the Iraqi people's effort to replace the rule of a tyrant with the rule of law. It is a major achievement for Iraq's young democracy and its constitutional government," said Bush, facing congressional elections on Tuesday which Democrats have tried turn into a referendum on his handling of the Iraq war.

An automatic appeal means no execution is likely until next year at the earliest. The judge told the 69-year-old former president he should be "hanged until dead" for killing, torturing and jailing hundreds of Shiites from the town of Dujail.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki described the death sentence as "not a sentence on one man, but a sentence against all the dark period of his rule." He said: "Maybe this will help alleviate the pain of the widows and the orphans, and those who have been ordered to bury their loved ones in secrecy, and those who have been forced to suppress their feelings and suffering."

Britain too hailed the verdict. "Appalling crimes were committed by Saddam Hussein's regime," British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said. "It's right that those accused of such crimes against the Iraqi people should face Iraqi justice."

But Finland, which holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, said the sentence shouldn't be carried out. "The EU opposes capital punishment in all cases and under all circumstances, and it should not be carried out in this case either." It added that the EU had repeatedly condemned "the systematic, widespread and extremely grave violations of human rights and of international humanitarian law committed by the regime of Saddam Hussein".

Three US soldiers were killed and Baghdad was under curfew for a second day on Monday as the Iraqi government braced for any insurgent backlash against the court ruling. Curfews in Baghdad and other appeared to succeed in keeping down violence on Sunday.

Several European leaders spoke out against the death sentence. Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi said: "The condemnation reflects the judgment of the entire international community. But however ferocious a crime may be, our traditions and our ethics distance us from the concept of a death penalty.'

German Chancellor Angela Merkel pointed out that the EU opposes the death sentence. "But it's right and important that the courts deal with Saddam Hussein's deeds."

Meanwhile, human rights organisation Amnesty International said it "deplored'' the sentence, and condemned the trial as a "shabby affair, marred by serious flaws'' which had not met basic international standards.

In the United States, opposition Democrats took aim at Bush's policy on Iraq. Former Democratic Senator Max Cleland of Georgia said the death sentence would make no difference and predicted more violence.

"Well, you can hang Saddam Hussein from the rooftops, but it's not changing the situation on the ground, except to make 2 million Sunnis more mad against Americans and against Shiites," Cleland told CNN's "Late Edition."

cro/Reuters/AP/dpa

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Many countries in the world enforce the death penalty, and there ain't much we can do about that. Just compare Saddam's case with, say, someone who commits apostasy in certain Islamic countries, including Saudi Arabia, Iran, Sudan and Afghanistan. The overenforcement (is that even a word?) of the death penalty in some countries is ridiculous.

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The cause was noble .. the cost, outrageous .. the result - if honorable, free-thinking democracy is acheived - is priceless.

As for hanging Saddam Hussein; if he had a dram of honor or a trace of concern for his 'cause' he would have fought to the death alongside the guards he asked to defend him; as his sons did. But then, they actually bought into his lies. Thankfully, he won't be shoved down a hamburger shredder while fully conscious. At least the gallows generated snapped neck will make his death quick and painless. An amenity he seemed unwilling to allow while welding HIS justice.

I abhor any excuses made for taking a life. Whether it be the convenient disposal of evidence of personal indiscretion or legalized vengeance. But, I do understand there are many families in Iraq who are studded with scars and badly in need of the court's actions as a form of closure of a thirty year reign etched by atrocities few of us can even conceive.

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I'm with Fintan and Ron....normally, I think all killing is wrong, but when it's a monster like Hussein, or say, when a murder happens in your own family, it's understandable to have that knee-jerk violent reaction. If someone ever hurt one of my loved ones, I would want some SERIOUS harm done to them.

I also agree that men like him are the worst and biggest cowards out there. A quick death is too good for them....there should be a way for them to feel and experience the pain and suffering they caused people.

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everybody can understand that reaction if a murder happens in our own family... that's why we shouldn't / can't be the judge in this case (conflict of interest etc.)

why is a quick death not enough? He dies after all, if we want to see him suffer, doesn't it lower us all on his level?

why not torture him first? or let everyone who thinks was wronged by him give him a couple of kicks and beatings?

or maybe the double death penalty, I mentioned above: We hang him (not to break his neck, but to let him suffocate), but shortly before he dies we cut him down, let him get to his senses for a few minutes/hours and then hang him again

would that be better? Would we feel better? Would it make things better? Would that be justice? :P :crazy: :P

[/soapbox]

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