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Iraqis ask Americans for custody of Saddam deputy to hang him at dawn
The Associated Press
Issue date: 3/20/07 Section: News
BAGHDAD - The Iraqi government asked U.S. authorities for custody of Saddam Hussein's former deputy to hang him at dawn Tuesday, the fourth anniversary of the start of the U.S.-led war in Iraq.
Taha Yassin Ramadan, who was Saddam's vice president when the regime was ousted, would be the fourth man executed in the killings of 148 Shiites following a 1982 assassination attempt against the former leader in the city of Dujail.
The executions have outraged Iraqi Sunnis and caused concern among international human rights groups, which have appealed for Ramadan's life.
Saddam Hussein's regime was predominantly Sunni and many members of the sect have protested the executions on the grounds they are politically motivated by the newly empowered Shiite majority in Iraq. International human rights groups have, by and large, protested that the trial which found the men guilty did not provide them with due legal process.
Ramadan was originally spared the gallows and sentenced to life in prison. But last week, an appeals court upheld a decision to impose capital punishment.
Officials in the prime minister's office, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information, said Monday that U.S. authorities had not yet responded to the request for custody but were expected to agree as a matter of course. The U.S. military had no immediate comment.
Ramadan has maintained his innocence, saying his duties were limited to economic affairs, not security issues. Human Rights Watch and the International Center for Transitional Justice have said the evidence against him is insufficient for the death penalty.
Saddam was executed on Dec. 30 for his role in the killings. Two of his co-defendants in the Dujail case - his half brother and former intelligence chief Barzan Ibrahim, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, former head of Iraq's Revolutionary Court - were executed in January.
Saddam's death was recorded by a cell phone video camera and posted on the Internet, and much of the Sunni Arab world was infuriated by the mockery he faced by onlookers in the moments before his hanging. Ibrahim was inadvertently decapitated when he was hanged, also causing a furor.
Taha Yassin Ramadan, who was Saddam's vice president when the regime was ousted, would be the fourth man executed in the killings of 148 Shiites following a 1982 assassination attempt against the former leader in the city of Dujail.
The executions have outraged Iraqi Sunnis and caused concern among international human rights groups, which have appealed for Ramadan's life.
Saddam Hussein's regime was predominantly Sunni and many members of the sect have protested the executions on the grounds they are politically motivated by the newly empowered Shiite majority in Iraq. International human rights groups have, by and large, protested that the trial which found the men guilty did not provide them with due legal process.
Ramadan was originally spared the gallows and sentenced to life in prison. But last week, an appeals court upheld a decision to impose capital punishment.
Officials in the prime minister's office, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information, said Monday that U.S. authorities had not yet responded to the request for custody but were expected to agree as a matter of course. The U.S. military had no immediate comment.
Ramadan has maintained his innocence, saying his duties were limited to economic affairs, not security issues. Human Rights Watch and the International Center for Transitional Justice have said the evidence against him is insufficient for the death penalty.
Saddam was executed on Dec. 30 for his role in the killings. Two of his co-defendants in the Dujail case - his half brother and former intelligence chief Barzan Ibrahim, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, former head of Iraq's Revolutionary Court - were executed in January.
Saddam's death was recorded by a cell phone video camera and posted on the Internet, and much of the Sunni Arab world was infuriated by the mockery he faced by onlookers in the moments before his hanging. Ibrahim was inadvertently decapitated when he was hanged, also causing a furor.
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