Lawyer: Saddam death sentence would 'open gates of hell'

If Saddam Hussein is condemned to death when the verdict in his first trial is handed down on Sunday, it would “open the gates of hell” to US forces in Iraq, a lawyer for the deposed president said today.

Bushra al-Khalil, a Lebanese lawyer who was thrown out of Saddam’s trial in May, also accused US President George Bush of exploiting Saddam’s expected death sentence for “electoral purposes”.

On Sunday, two days before the US Congressional elections, judges in a Baghdad court are scheduled to deliver their verdict on Saddam and seven others, who have pleaded innocent to charges of crimes against humanity for the 1982 killing of 148 Muslim Shiites from the northern Iraqi town of Dujail.

If convicted, Saddam could be condemned to death by hanging, but he will have the right to appeal.

“A death sentence against Saddam Hussein will have grave consequences,” al-Khalil told reporters. “It will lead to a major security flare-up in Iraq and to stepped up attacks on the US Army.”