[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Jan. 3



IRAQ----impending executions

Hussein's co-defendants to be hanged Thursday


An Iraqi government official told The Associated Press on Wednesday that
preparations were under way to hang two of Saddam Hussein's co-defendants
on Thursday.

Al-Arabiya satellite television and Al-Furat TV, run by Iraq's major
Shiite Muslim political organization, both also reported that Saddam's
half-brother Barzan Ibrahim, a former intelligence chief, and Awad Hamed
al-Bandar, the former chief justice of the Revolutionary Court, would be
put to death Thursday.

The government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he
was not authorized to release the information, said the exact place and
time of the hangings had not been set.

The 2 co-defendants were originally scheduled to hang last Saturday along
with Hussein.

The former Iraqi leader and the 2 co-defendants were convicted and
sentenced to hang on Nov. 5 and the verdict was upheld by the appellate
court on Dec. 26.

The hanging of Barzan and al-Bandar was delayed, however, until after the
Eid al-Adha holiday, which ends Wednesday for Iraq's majority Shiites.

The holiday marks the end of the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca in
Saudi Arabia.

The 3 men were sentenced to death for the killing of 148 Sunni Muslims
from the town of Dujail after a failed 1982 assassination against Saddam
in the northern city.

(source: Associated Press)