‘Depressed’ Hussein seeks clemency from premier

BROKEN and depressed, deposed despot Saddam Hussein has appealed for mercy, saying his regime had meant no harm during his years running the country, Iraq’s interim premier said yesterday.

“Saddam sent me a verbal message asking for mercy,” Ayad Allawi told the pan-Arab newspaper Al Hayat. “He said they were working for the general good and they didn’t aim to harm.”

Mr Allawi said the message was carried by a member of the current government. He didn’t say by whom or when the message was relayed.

“My answer was, these are things the court will determine,” Mr Allawi was quoted as saying.

Since his capture in December, Saddam has been held in US detention at an undisclosed location awaiting trial on broad charges of killing rivals, gassing Kurds, invading Kuwait and suppressing uprisings. Eleven of Saddam’s top lieutenants also face trial. Mr Allawi said Saddam’s cousin, Barzan al-Tikriti, also imprisoned, had sent a similar message in which he tried to exonerate and distance himself from the former dictator. “Others did the same,” Mr Allawi said.

Mr Allawi said Saddam was “depressed and broken in spirit” when he was escorted to court on July 1 in Baghdad to face charges: “He was shaking noticeably. He thought things would run as they did during his times, that is, that they were going to execute him. He was not reassured until he saw the judges and the media and television.”

Mr Allawi said he has not yet met Saddam in prison. He said Saddam and his lieutenants would go on trial soon. “Roughly speaking, I think October,” Mr Allawi said, adding that the evidence against Saddam was “overwhelming”.

The death penalty has been restored in Iraq after it was suspended during the US administration of Iraq. It is not clear if Saddam would be executed if convicted.