ICTJ in the News

November 5, 2006

Saddam's death penalty evokes both anger, glee

CTV

The news of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's death sentence Sunday has evoked a fast and furious response that ranged from celebratory glee to deep sadness and anger. Human rights groups have denounced the trial and the final ruling as deeply flawed, Iraqis have responded with either sorrow or satisfaction, and Saddam's defence team has called it a "mockery of justice."

Saddam and two of his former aides were sentenced to death by hanging for their roles in the deaths of 148 Shiite Muslims in the village of Dujail after a failed assassination attempt on his life.

The bizarre trial, which lasted almost a year -- a period during which three defence lawyers were murdered and the original judge stepped down claiming political interference, was scrutinized by rights groups around the world.

Amnesty International said the court was in no position to make a fair decision on Saddam's fate.
"The court was not impartial. There were not adequate steps taken to protect the security of defence lawyers and witnesses," said Malcolm Smart, head of Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa Programme.

"Every individual has a right to a fair trial, even people accused of crimes of the magnitude that Saddam Hussein was accused of, and this has not been a fair trial."

The New York-based International Center for Transitional Justice, which has monitored the Dujail trial closely with staff in Baghdad, said there have been enough mistakes along the way that a re-trial is necessary. "It's not a sham trial by any means. But there were lots of errors and mistakes along the way, as they were learning," Hanny Megally, the ICTJ's expert on justice in the Middle East told The Associated Press. "And in all fairness, unless they put those right, it would be impossible to meet the standards of fairness."

Among Iraqis, there were dramatically different responses when the ruling was issued. Shiites, who felt persecuted under Saddam but now control the government in Iraq, poured into Baghdad streets by the hundreds of thousands, celebrating the death sentence despite a curfew that had the city under lockdown to prevent violence.

In Sadr City, the Shiite stronghold in the northeast part of the city, youths danced and sang in the streets. Many of the youths carried posters of Muqtada al-Sadr, the radical anti-American cleric whose Mahdi Army militia effectively runs the district.

"Execute Saddam!" many of them chanted.

"This is an unprecedented feeling of happiness," said 35-year-old Abu Sinan. "The verdict declares that Saddam is paying the price for murdering tens of thousands of Iraqis," he said.

But the reaction was much different in Tikrit, Saddam's hometown. His Sunni supporters paraded through town chanting the pledge: "We will avenge you Saddam." Observers feared the alarmingly different responses to Saddam's verdict would push the country -- already teetering on the brink of civil war -- into all out sectarian violence. However, Saddam himself called for peace in the wake of the verdict, according to his lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi.

Although al-Dumaini relayed Saddam's call for peace, he slammed the decision, with the legal team describing it as a "mockery of justice."

Among Iraq's neighbours -- some of those most affected by his 35-years in leadership -- the reaction was also mixed. Kuwaitis, who were under Iraqi occupation for seven months in 1990 and 1991, applauded the decision. "This is good news," Kuwaiti political analyst and former oil minister Ali al-Baghli told AP.

"Saddam deserves to be hanged because of the atrocities he inflicted on his people for the past 35 years and on his neighbours also. He sent millions of people to their deaths."

Iran, meanwhile, said it hoped Saddam would still face prosecution for offences he is alleged to have committed during the 1980s' Iran-Iraq war. "What I have suffered during the war will never be compensated, even if he is hanged 100 times," said Ali Farhoudi, a 38-year-old veteran of that conflict.

Others said Saddam deserved torture for his alleged crimes during that conflict. But among Palestinians, there was sorrow at the news of Saddam's fate. As Iraqi president, Saddam was widely admired by Palestinians for standing up to the U.S. and firing missiles at Israel in the 1991 Gulf War, and for sending money to families of Palestinian suicide bombers.

"I am very sad today. Giving the death penalty to the Iraqi president is oppression, it is unfair," said Najah Jabajy, 30, in the West Bank city of Nablus. Osama Issa, 23, said: "This is an insult to the Arabs. Saddam committed big mistakes. But look at Iraq today: blood and daily massacres."
Hamas, the ruling Palestinian party, said the ruling was ordered by the U.S.