Saddam may be executed ‘morrow
Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein will have his death sentence carried out tomorrow (Sunday), the MSNBC reported.
A U.S. military officer confirmed that Saddam’s hanging — for his involvement in 148 killings in 1982 — is set to occur on Sunday.
There is a chance the execution could take place Friday (yesterday), the officer told MSNBC.
The deposed leader was sentenced last month to be executed within 30 days.
That target would be met if he is executed by Sunday.
In preparation for his upcoming death, Saddam recently wrote an open letter to the people of Iraq denouncing hatred.
“I call on you not to hate because hate does not leave a space for a person to be fair and it makes you blind and closes all doors of thinking and keeps one away from balanced thinking and making the right choice,” Saddam wrote.
Lawyers for former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein have confirmed to the BBC that they have been asked to pick up his personal effects.
But an Iraqi official denied that he has been handed from US military to Iraqi custody, following earlier reports this had already happened.
Correspondents said yesterday’s comments have sparked a blizzard of speculation.
According to Iraqi state TV, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki said that there would be no delay in carrying out Saddam Hussein’s death sentence.
“No-one can oppose the decision to execute the criminal Saddam,” Mr Maliki was quoted by AFP as saying. “Those who reject the execution of Saddam are undermining the dignity of Iraq’s martyrs.”
Chief defence lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi told the BBC that US officials had asked him to appoint someone to collect Saddam Hussein’s possessions, or give an address where they could be sent.
The lawyer said the Americans neither confirmed nor denied he was actually handed over from US military custody near Baghdad.
Another lawyer told the BBC that Saddam Hussein’s half-brothers Sabawi Ibrahim and Watban Ibrahim - also in prison - were taken to visit him on Thursday.
Iraqi Deputy Justice Minister Bosho Ibrahim confirmed to the BBC that Saddam Hussein had not yet been handed over.
The time and location of the hanging has not been made public - and may be revealed only after the former president is dead to avoid civil disruption and unrest.
The confusion surrounding Saddam Hussein’s fate comes a day after his lawyer urged the international community to stop him being handed over to the Iraqi authorities for execution.
Mr Dulaimi said he was a prisoner of war and should not be handed to his enemies.
In a letter written from his prison cell, Saddam Hussein said he was ready to die as a “sacrifice” for Iraq.
Saddam Hussein was convicted of human rights abuses in relation to the killings of the 148 Shias in Dujail, north of Baghdad, after a failed assassination attempt against the former Iraqi leader in 1982.
Saddam Hussein’s half-brother Barzan al-Tikriti and Iraq’s former chief judge Awad Hamed al-Bandar were also sentenced to death.
Former Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan was sentenced to life imprisonment and three others received 15-year prison terms.
Another co-defendant, Baath party official Mohammed Azawi Ali, was acquitted. The White House has called the ruling a milestone in Iraq’s efforts “to replace the rule of a tyrant with the rule of law”.
Many critics have dismissed the trial as a form of victors’ justice, given the close attention the US had paid to it.
Saddam Hussein’s defence team had also accused the government of interfering in the proceedings - a complaint backed by US group Human Rights Watch.
The 5 November verdict sparked celebrations in Baghdad but protests in Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit. .