ICTJ in the News

December 26, 2006

Newscast: Saddam Hussein to be executed by hanging within 30 days

NBC Nightly News

LESTER HOLT, anchor:

He was toppled from power, hunted down and made to answer for his crimes. And today we learned Saddam Hussein, the so-called "Butcher of Baghdad," is out of options. He's lost his final appeal and is to be executed by hanging less than a month from now. And as Iraqis prepare to close the Saddam era once and for all, the United States today turned its own grim page. The military today reported the deaths of seven more Americans, bringing this country's total losses in Iraq to 2,978, surpassing the number of people killed in the attacks of September 11th. We have reports from Iraq and the Western White House tonight, beginning with NBC's Richard Engel in Baghdad.

Richard, good evening.

RICHARD ENGEL reporting:

Good evening, Lester. This execution could be carried out very soon, perhaps even within the next two weeks, according to Iraqi officials who tell us that it will take place inside an Iraqi prison, where now terrorists and criminals are being put to death. Iraqi television scrambled to carry the announcement live. Today's decision was both a surprise and rushed.

Unidentified Man #1: (from November 5 file footage)

ENGEL: Just three weeks after the nine judges received the appeal, they dismissed it, upholding a death sentence read to a seemingly broken man in November. Judges today said Saddam must now be executed within 30 days.

Judge AREF SHAHIN (Chief judge): (Through translator) The countdown begins tomorrow. Nobody has the right to lighten the sentence.

ENGEL: But reactions in Baghdad were less emphatic. Most people were too frightened to go out to celebrate or protest. At a local coffee shop, one man said...

Unidentified Man #2: (Foreign language spoken)

ENGEL: ...`We demand his execution early so we can close this chapter.'

But another asked...

Unidentified Man #3: (Foreign language spoken)

ENGEL: ...`Who cares about Saddam? We are still suffering now. This verdict is just a distraction.' And again, they suffered today. At least five bombs in Baghdad killed more than 50 Iraqis.

Unidentified Man #4: (Foreign language spoken)

ENGEL: `I saw a 60-year-old woman carrying a child bleeding from her head, but I couldn't save her,' he said. The US military expects Saddam's execution to trigger even more violence here. Saddam Hussein was convicted for ordering the execution of 148 men and boys after a failed assassination attempt 24 years ago in a Shiite village. But critics say his trial was motivated more by revenge than justice.

Ms. MIRANDA SISSONS (International Center for Transitional Justice): There's been politically interference and political pressure, and this has not fulfilled the international or minimum fair trial standards.

ENGEL: The Shiite group that tried to kill Saddam two decades ago now leads the Iraqi government soon to hang him.

To stop this execution, Lester, Iraq's president would have to intervene on moral grounds. There's no indication he has any intention of doing that. Iraqi officials tell us that Saddam will not receive any special favors. That on the day of his execution he'll be dressed in a green or an orange jumpsuit. That his hands will be bound, his feet chained together with only enough slack on the chain so that he can shuffle up the stairs of the steel gallows. He'll be wearing a hood as will the hangman. The hangman's hood, however, will have eye holes cut in it so that he can see the lever, releasing a trap door under Saddam's feet, dropping him to his death. Lester:

HOLT: And Richard, I know you just returned to Baghdad after a seven-week absence. Share with me your thoughts, what has changed and what hasn't changed in that seven weeks.

ENGEL: There is a sense, Lester, that this city is, in a sense, a freefall just since I've been gone. There are now signs up in certain Sunni neighborhoods that say, `Shiites out. Sunnis only.' Sunni militant groups now have their own television station where they're showing viewers how to launch mortars and assemble car bombs. Two cameramen--Iraqi cameramen I know--have been kidnapped by insurgents. Both managed to escape. One had to jump out of the back of a moving car. And all of this, Lester, just in the last few weeks.

HOLT: All right. Richard Engel in Baghdad tonight. Richard, thanks.