Facing hangman, Saddam offers sacrifice

"Here I offer myself in sacrifice. If God almighty wishes, it (my soul) will take me where he orders to be with the martyrs," Saddam said in the hand-written letter obtained from his defence lawyers in Jordan after it was posted on a website.

"If my soul goes down this path (of martyrdom) it will face God in serenity."

In a farewell letter to the Iraqi people, Saddam Hussein urged his countrymen not to hate the people of the countries that toppled his regime nearly four years ago and said he was offering "my soul to God as a sacrifice."

The letter was posted on a website Wednesday, a day after Iraq's highest court upheld his death sentence and ordered him hanged within 30 days. A top government official, meanwhile, said Saddam's execution could proceed without the approval of Iraq's president, meaning there were no more legal obstacles to sending the deposed dictator to the gallows.

Speculation on the streets ranged from a swift execution within days, conducted in secret and announced only after the fact, to a public execution broadcast on television -- though few believed the latter was likely.

The Iraqi High Tribunal appeals court on Tuesday upheld Saddam's death sentence imposed for crimes against humanity during his 24-year rule.

"Our job is done and now it is in the hand of the executive authority. They (the government) have the right to choose the date starting from tomorrow up to 30 days," the head of the court, Aref Abdul-Razzaq al-Shahin, said on Tuesday.

But the government refused repeated requests for comment and declined to give any indication on when and how it was going to execute Saddam, overthrown by a U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

Human rights group Amnesty International said the Appeal Court ruling came at the end of a flawed trial that had lacked independence from political interference.

"Amnesty International is very disappointed about this decision," a spokeswoman for the human rights organization said.

"We are against the death penalty as a matter of principle but particularly in this case because it comes after a flawed trial."

The nine-judge appellate court also upheld death sentences against Saddam's half-brother, Barzan al-Tikriti, and former judge Awad al-Bander, for their part in the incident.

The court recommended toughening the sentence on former Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan, who had been sentenced to life in prison over Dujail, saying he should also be executed.

Meanwhile, The Baath Party, the political movement that ruled Iraq during the Saddam Hussein era, is warning there will be "grave consequences" if former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein is executed.

Saying it would hold the United States responsible, a message appeared on al-basrah.net Tuesday that read: "The Baath and the resistance are determined to retaliate in all ways and all places that hurt America and its interests if it commits this crime."

If the execution is carried out, the largely Sunni-Arab Baathists said they also will retaliate against members of the Iraqi High Tribunal.

And they vowed a complete shut-down of peace negotiations between the Baathists and coalition forces.

The Baathists have been operating as part of the insurgency against the U.S. and its allies since Hussein's regime fell in 2003.

The Baathist message went on to call Hussein's execution a "most dangerous red line" that the Bush administration shouldn't cross.

"The entire world knows that the final decision is in the hands of the American administration and not the agent government in Baghdad," the message said.

The execution "will make later negotiations between the resistance and the Baathists" and the U.S. "impossible." It would further embolden and strengthen the resistance, the message warned.

The Baathists also issued a warning to Iran, which is regarded as a key supporter of Iraq's Shiite-led government.

The Baathists believe that the government and Iran are behind sectarian killings of Sunni Arabs.

The Baathists are asking Iran's "real leader" -- a reference to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei -- "to be rational and study this matter and not to spill more Iraqi blood, because our retaliation will be in the heart of Iran and impact its leadership."

The Baathists also warned that there will be "no safe place" for Iraqi High Tribunal jurists and those who protect them, calling them "traitors" and "tools for the occupation."

Saddam Hussein's lawyer says the U.S. should not hand the former dictator over to Iraq for execution.

Speaking from Jordan, Khalil al-Dulaimi also called on international organizations, including the UN, to prevent the U.S. from transferring Saddam to Iraqi custody.

The lawyer called Saddam a prisoner of war. He said war prisoners are not to be handed over to their enemies.

On Tuesday, an Iraqi appeals court said Saddam's death sentence for the killing of 148 Shi'ites should be carried out within 30 days.

Saddam is currently being held at a U.S. prison near Baghdad International Airport.

Meanwhile, a top Vatican official has criticized the death sentence.

In a newspaper interview (Republicca) published Thursday, Cardinal Renato Martino said executing Saddam would be like punishing "a crime with a crime."

He said capital punishment goes against the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.

Iraqi officials have not commented on when the execution will take place. It is also unclear whether President Jalal Talabani needs to sign off on the execution warrant.

Last month, an Iraqi court sentenced Saddam to hang for ordering the killing of 148 Shi'ite Muslims in the town of Dujail in 1982.

Saddam also is being tried separately on charges of genocide for a 1988 military campaign (Anfal) against the Kurdish region of northern Iraq. Prosecutors say 180,000 Kurds were killed in that campaign.

(Some information for this post was excerpted from : Newsvine,Reuter,Canoe News,The Age and CNN)


Iraq Mid East Saddam Hussein