June 30
BRITAIN/IRAQ:
Britain reiterates opposition to use death penalty against Saddam
The British government reiterated Wednesday that it opposes the use of the
death penalty against former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, amid
speculation that the former Iraqi leader could face the sentence after he
appears before a special Iraqi tribunal.
The British government had made clear to the Iraqi interim government and
indeed other governments that it was opposed to the use of the death
penalty, British Prime Minister Tony Blair's official spokesman told
reporters.
However, he said, its use was a matter for the sovereign Iraqi interim
government and the outcome of the judicial process in the country.
The important point was the fact that a judicial process was actually
taking place and that it would be transparent, he added.
"Iraq now has a sovereign government, we have to respect that," the
spokesman said, adding that it was encouraging that the Iraqi Prime
Minister Iyad Allawi and other Iraqi Ministers had underlined that there
would be a transparent judicial process.
"It is encouraging to see that they were taking the job of governing the
country seriously, as demonstrated by the Coalition Provisional Authority
(CPA) sites in Nazariah and other areas are being handed over to local
government and the CPA site in Kut being handed over to the local police,"
the spokesman added.
The spokesman's comments came after Iraq's new national security adviser
told the BBC on Wednesday that the trial of Saddam would be fair,
broadcast live on television and radio and be the "trial of the century."
The Iraqi Special Tribunal would be able to impose the death penalty,
Mouwafak al-Rubaie said in an interview with the BBC.
"Saddam Hussein will be under the legal control of Iraqi law...He is going
to be tried according to the Iraqi criminal code," al-Rubaie said.
"As an Iraqi interim government, we promise our people and the Arab world
and the outside world that Saddam will stand a fair trial," he said.
Earlier reports said Saddam was to make his 1st court appearance on
Thursday after being transferred to Iraqi interim government from the
coaltion forces.
Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as "Chemical Ali," former Vice President Taha
Yassin Ramadan and former deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz would be among
11 of Saddam's lieutenants to face the tribunal on Thursday, reports said.
(source: Xinhua News)
FRANCE/IRAQ:
France reaffirms opposition to Iraq resuming death penalty
France on Wednesday reiterated its opposition to death penalty "under any
circumstances" and called for a trial for Iraqi former president Saddam
Hussein in compliance with the international law.
"We have noted that the American administration, which has acknowledged
Saddam's status as war criminal, had decided to hand over the former
dictator to Iraqi authorities to bring him before the courts," said Cecil
Pozzo di Borgo, deputy spokeswoman of French Foreign Ministry.
"It is now up to the Iraqi people to judge Saddam Hussein, in a trial that
must abide by the rules of international law," she said.
Concerning the reinstatement of the death penalty declared by Iraqi
President Ghazi al-Yawar in an interview published on Wednesday by the
Arabic-language daily Asharq al-Awsat, Pozzo di Borgo said: "We are
opposed to the application of the death penalty under any circumstances."
Death penalty was suspended in Iraq by former chief of US Central Command
(Centcom), General Tommy Franks, little after the beginning of the war
leading to the fall of Saddam's regime in April 2003.
The US-led coalition adopted on June 12, 2003 the Iraqi Penal Code of
1969, maintaining however the proscription of the death penalty.
When Saddam was captured by the American forces in December 2003, the
United Nations and the European Union had expressed their hostility in
principle to the reestablishment of the death penalty.
Iraq's interim government took over legal custody from the US-led military
of the ousted Iraqi president and other 11 top members of his regime on
Wednesday. Saddam is expected to appear in a special Iraqi court on
Thursday.
(source: Xinhuanet)
KUWAIT/IRAQ:
Kuwait to be at Saddam trial, seeks death penalty
Kuwait named a representative on Wednesday to the trial of Saddam Hussein,
pressing its case for the former Iraqi leader to be sentenced to death
over Baghdad's 1990-91 occupation of the Gulf state.
"We hope he is terminated because what he did to Kuwait...was a criminal
and inhuman act," Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah was quoted
as saying by the state news agency KUNA.
Justice Minister Ahmad Baqer said Kuwait University law professor Mohammad
Bouzabar had been chosen to represent the country and would sit on
committees belonging to a special Iraqi tribunal set up to try Saddam and
top aides.
Saddam appeared before an Iraqi judge on Wednesday as Iraq's newly
sovereign government took the 1st step towards bringing him to justice --
and a possible death penalty -- on charges of killing and torture during
his 3 decades of power.
Kuwait's public prosecutor said in March his country would demand that
Saddam be sentenced to death for crimes he committed against it.
"The crimes range from murder, rape, displacement, theft and other war
crimes and crimes against humanity, in addition to crimes punishable under
Iraqi law also," Baqer was quoted as saying by KUNA.
IRAQI JUDGES TO VISIT
Baqer said 3 Iraqi investigative judges would visit Kuwait soon to inspect
files on the crimes the country says Saddam inflicted on it and its people
during 7 months of occupation from August 1990.
Kuwaitis say more than 600 people, mostly civilians, were seized by
Saddam's forces during the occupation and were believed to have been
killed.
A special committee has so far identified the remains of about 100 people.
"It pains us that there are still prisoners whose fate we know nothing
about," Sheikh Sabah said in an address to parliament.
Kuwait was a launch pad for last year's U.S.-led war which ousted Saddam.
The Gulf state said on Monday it had restored diplomatic relations with
Baghdad, severed since the 1990 invasion, hours after Washington handed
over to an Iraqi interim government.
Besides Saddam's trial, Kuwait is seeking billions of dollars in 1990-91
Gulf War reparations from neighbouring Iraq.
The U.N. Compensation Committee has so far awarded close to $48 billion to
the government, citizens and companies in Kuwait, but less than half has
been paid out to date.
(source: Reuters)
