Saddam faces death penalty
His trial was told that the former Iraqi leader and his regime committed crimes against humanity in a “revenge” attack on Shi’ite civilians in the 1980s.
The closing arguments brought the eight-month-old Baghdad trial into its final phase, and after yesterday’s session, the court adjourned until July 10, when the defence will begin making its final summation.
Saddam, dressed in a black suit, sat silently, as chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Moussawi delivered his arguments, listing the evidence against each of the eight defendants.
Concluding his remarks, Mr al-Moussawi asked for the death penalty against Saddam, his half-brother Barzan Ibrahim and Taha Yassin Ramadan, a former senior regime member. “They were spreading corruption on earth ... and even the trees were not safe from their oppression,” he said.
“Well done,” Saddam muttered sarcastically.
But even if Saddam is sentenced to execution by hanging, it could take months for the verdict to be carried out. The defendants have the right of appeal — and Saddam is due to go on a second trial for a military campaign against Iraqi Kurds in the 1980s that killed some 100,000 people.
No date for that trial has been set, and Iraqi officials have not said what will happen if the appeals from the first trial case run out while the second is still going on.
