Saddam could be tried posthumously

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
Media: AFP
Byline: N/A
Date: 19 August 2006

BAGHDAD, Aug 19, 2006 (AFP) - Ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein could be
tried posthumously for genocide if an Iraqi court decides to execute him for
a separate accusation of mass murder, a US official in Baghdad said
Saturday.

According to a US legal expert who briefed reporters anonymously ahead of
Saddam's trial for his alleged role in the Anfal campaign against Iraq's
Kurdish minority, the case could be delayed by a verdict in the first case.

The Anfal trial is to begin on Monday, but a verdict in the other case is
expected on October 17, when Iraqi judges will rule on whether the former
strongman ordered the illegal execution of 148 Shiite villagers.

If found guilty, Saddam could face execution or life imprisonment, in which
case he would have an automatic right to appeal.

"If the tribunal decides on the appeal during the Anfal trial and if it
upholds the death penalty the sentence has to be carried out within 30 days
of the decision on the appeal," the US official said.

"Which means theoretically, that if Saddam is given the death penalty and if
everything falls in place, he can be executed and the Anfal trial can carry
on posthumously," he added.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, himself a Kurd, said earlier this year that
Saddam should be tried for all his crimes before any of the verdicts are
implemented and any death penalty could prove controversial.

The United Nations, for example, has refused to provide "logistical support
to the Iraqi High Tribunal" because of the body's opposition to the death
penalty, the US official said.
 
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