Don’t hang Saddam
Some three years after his capture, former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein has been convicted and sentenced by the Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal in connection with the killing of 148 people from a Shiite village called al-Dujail in 1982, apparently in revenge for an assassination attempt.
Saddam Hussein and his co-accused ought not to be executed for their crimes, however. Capital punishment is always wrong. It is a human rights violation under the 2nd Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Execution by hanging is also a form of torture or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment. The new Iraqi tribunal — which lacks the power to try anyone but Iraqis for war crimes — ought to reflect the near-universal abolition of capital punishment, not least as a sign of departure from the brutality and injustices of the old regime.
These high-profile death sentences have been widely condemned, including by the European Union, Russia, British PM Tony Blair, Italian PM Romano Prodi and the Vatican. Amnesty International and the UN have also criticised the sentences, in part because of the shortcomings of the trial. Since no justice system is ever perfect, and death is irrevocable, capital punishment can never be justified. A desire for justice is laudable, but risking the lives of innocents is not, and that is why fair trial principles are so important. "Every accused has a right to a fair trial," Amnesty reminds us, "whatever the magnitude of the charge against them."
In another sign of bias and political interference, the Iraqi PM spoke publicly prior to sentencing of his desire to have Saddam Hussein out of the way; this from a man believed to have tried to kill Hussein back in 1982.
While facing trial for further acts of genocide, the accused are appealling their death sentence for the al-Dujail massacre. It is possible, though unlikley, argues Amnesty, that earlier trial flaws may be corrected on appeal. If the verdict and sentence are upheld, the executions are likely to take place within 30 days. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has recommended their case be referred to an international tribunal instead.
The death sentence and execution of Saddam Hussein — hanged on 30 December during Eid — have been condemned by the governments of Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain. Likewise, by Cardinal Renato Martino, head of the Catholic Church’s Council for Justice and Peace, stating that the church opposes all capital punishment, and by Louise Arbour, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, who pointed also to the defects of the trial.
Scores of Iraqis have died in bombings and other attacks immediately following the execution.
To quote the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Philip Alston, interviewed on Australian radio:
[…] Echoing Raimond Gaita’s call to keep the reality of torture vividly before us when debating that form of inhumanity, so must we try to keep the reality of execution before us, whether it be by hanging — itself a form of torture — or any other means. […]