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Saddam Hussein To Hang

Angry, shaking and defiant, Saddam Hussein was sentenced to death this morning by hanging for ordering the massacre of Iraqi civilians.

"Allahu Akbar!" (God is Greatest) and "Long live the nation!", he shouted, pointing defiantly at the judge as the verdict was delivered.

Looking away in disgust, and then staring angrily back at the judge he continued to shout "Long live the people and death to their enemies. Long live the glorious nation, and death to its enemies!"

He had refused to stand for the verdict and had to be lifted to his feet by two court bailiffs.

"Make him stand," the judge ordered as the former president stayed seated.

He then stood in silence and waited for his fate to be announced to the world.

Saddam was convicted of ordering the deaths of 148 Shia men and teenage boys in the town of Dujail in 1982.

The killings followed a failed assassination attempt against him and were intended to act as a grim warning to others not to oppose him.

Saddam was on trial with seven co-accused:

    * Awad Hamed al Bander, former chief judge in Saddam's Revolutionary Court, has been sentenced to hang                                 
    * Saddam's half-brother Barzan al Tikriti, head of the feared Mukhabarat intelligence service, was sentenced to hang                                 
    * Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan was sentenced to life in prison                                 
    * Three Ba'ath party officials were sentenced to 15 years in prison                         
    * Abdullah Kazim Ruwayyid, former Ba'ath official, given15 years                     
    * Mizhar Abdullah Ruwayyid, former Ba'ath official, given 15 years                     
    * Ali Dayih Ali, former Ba'ath official, given 15 years                     
    * Mohammed Azawi Ali, a Ba'ath party official in Dujail, was cleared.

Saddam is in the middle of a second crimes against humanity trial and the appeal against the Dujail death sentence will start on Monday, taking two months.

He had wanted to face a firing squad - that request was refused.

Celebratory gunfire echoed across Baghdad while fighting broke out in the north of the city.

Saddam's lawyer said the former president urged Iraqis "not to take revenge" on the US coalition and to "unify in the face of sectarian strike".

Sporadic violence has been reported in other parts of the country.

Amnesty International described the trial as a "shabby affair marred by serious flaws".

Security was stepped up in the capital in anticipation of a violent reaction to the verdict. Sunni supporters predicted a "firestorm" of violence.

Saddam, who was captured by US forces in December 2003, is still seen as the figurehead of many of the insurgent Sunni groups conducting a campaign of terror against Coalition troops and Iraqi civilians.

Defence minister Abdul Qader al Obeidi cancelled all army leave and recalled security forces already on holiday.

The trial is the first that Saddam has faced in the wake of his downfall.

It has been punctuated by walkouts, boycotts, hunger-strikes by Saddam and his co-defendants, the murder of three lawyers and the sacking of the original trial judge, who announced in court that he did not believe Saddam was a dictator.

It is possible the former Iraqi president's other trials for genocide and war crimes could now be brought forward.

SUPPORTERS of Saddam Hussein have warned of a “firestorm” of violence if he is found guilty of crimes against humanity today and sentenced to death.

Iraqi officials ordered the closure of Baghdad’s international airport in a massive security clampdown ahead of the verdict. If convicted, Saddam could face hanging.

Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister, went on television to appeal for calm last night. He called on Iraqis to celebrate a guilty verdict in a way that “does not risk their lives”. He added: “We hope that the verdict will give this man what he deserves for the crimes he committed against the Iraqi people.” Maliki has previously said that Saddam should hang.

However, Ramsey Clark, a former US attorney-general who advised Saddam’s defence team, said that a death sentence would deliver “victor’s justice” that would fuel conflict in Iraq for decades.

A curfew was being imposed this morning on Baghdad and two neighbouring provinces. All police and army leave was cancelled and armed checkpoints were set up around the capital.

The 200-page verdict was due to be delivered at the Iraqi High Tribunal in the capital’s heavily guarded green zone, which is considered the safest place in Iraq. The interior ministry, which commands the police, said any trouble would meet a “tough and severe” response.

Saddam's American lawyer booted from court 
Ramsey Clark handed judge memorandum calling trial 'travesty'

A former US attorney general representing Saddam Hussein was thrown out of court before his client's verdict was read out.

Ramsey Clark was ordered out of the courtroom in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone.

Mr Clark had handed the judge a memorandum calling the trial a travesty. Judge Rauf Abdul Rahman pointed to Mr Clark and said in English: "Get out."

Speaking before the verdict hearing began, Mr Clark said the entire trial process was unjust. He said: "It's an unfair trial in more ways than you can count. Where have we seen a trial take place in the midst of such uncontrollable violence?"

Mr Clark, who leads a team of international lawyers defending Saddam, described the court as prejudiced and lacking impartiality.

He said it had already condemned the ousted Iraqi president for killing 148 Shi'ite villagers after an attempt on his life in 1982 - the main charge in Saddam's first trial for war crimes and genocide.

Mr Clark said: "To let there be worse than victors' justice and the revenge of all enemies at a time like this for Iraq is something history and humanity should not have to bear. It will create violence maybe for generations to come.

"The trial will go down in history as politically forced, it was a disaster for justice. It just went on for too long with lawyers killed and judges kicked off."

The government has been urging a rapid conviction and hanging for Saddam whose Sunni-dominated administration oppressed the Shi'ite and Kurdish communities, which now dominate political power.

Mr Clark said: "When you think of all the things people have said, it's very difficult to see anything happening except a death sentence."

The veteran anti-war campaigner, who first met Saddam before the 1991 Gulf War, was among the last Westerners to see him weeks before the US-led invasion in March 2003.

He said Saddam should have been tried by an independent UN-sponsored court and was scathing about the Saddam verdict coming only two days before US midterm elections.

He added: "We call it the corruption of justice, the abuse of the judicial system for political ends. It's a crime and a very serious crime because it impacts on the integrity of government."

Mr Clark served as US Attorney General between 1967 and 1969.