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COLOMBO (6 January 2007) - THE Sri Lankan government said that it regretted the execution of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, but hoped it would not affect the process of restoring peace and normalcy in Iraq. "We are dismayed at the execution of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein which was carried out on Eid-ul-adha Haj festival day, one of the holiest day in the Islamic calendar," said Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera in a short statement. "While regretting this unfortunate turn of events we fervently hope that this will not affect negatively, the process of restoring peace and normalcy in Iraq," the statement added.
Thousands of protestors marched in Colombo on 5 January to protest the execution of the former Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein. The protestors also unleashed a verbal tirade against United States president George W. Bush. They marched towards the US embassy in Colombo from Maradana Jumma Mosque to protest the US support for the execution, reports Munza Mushtaq in asiantribue.com. Former Deputy Mayor of Colombo, Azaath Sally, warned that the United States' support to the Iraqi government is threatening the whole Islam world. The protesters walked on the US flag and portraits of George Bush which were laid on the floor of the Mosque.
The protest march which also resulted in heavy traffic around the city began soon after Jummah prayers from the Maradana mosque. Several parliamentarians and local leaders including religious leaders took part in the protest which was mainly an anti-United States rally. However, police blocked protestors from nearing the US embassy in Colombo with a heavy guard and iron barricades, but law-enforcement authorities later allowed a handful of politicians including Sri Lanka Muslim Congress leader Rauff Hakeem, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna parliamentarian Vijitha Herath, and former Colombo deputy mayor Azath Salley to approach the gates of the embassy to hand over a letter detailing their protest against the execution of Saddam Hussein. An embassy official who accepted the letter is reported to have agreed to convey the Sri Lankans displeasure to the America government. Protestors were of the view that Mr Hussein was not given a 'fair' trial and the judgment to hang him and the style it was conducted in was highly unacceptable. Some protestors also charged President Bush as a murderer who without sorting out problems in his own country was trying to sort out problems in other countries. JVP parliamentian Vijitha Herath warned that the US authorities are gradually intervening in Sri Lankan affairs. Leader of Muslim United Liberation Front, Mujibar Rahman, said the US cannot undermine the Muslims by executing Muslim leaders. He urged the Muslim MPs to condemn the execution in the parliament. Protest rallies and general shut downs were also observed in several other predominant Muslim cities such as Akkaraipattu, Kalmunai, Sammanthurai and Aluthgama. Several days after the execution, Sri Lanka's Foreign Affairs Minister Mangala Samaraweera also voiced his condemnation against the hanging of Hussein.
KABUL (1 January 2007) Dawn Newspaper - AN AFGHAN OFFICIAL said on Saturday that Saddam Hussein's trial and execution show a double standard in the international community, as no one in Afghanistan has been prosecuted for atrocities from the country's 25 years of war. Ahmad Nadir Nadery, an official with the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, said war crimes trials would end the impunity enjoyed by Afghan warlords. "This is something we need in Afghanistan, and it's something the international community has forgotten to do here," Nadery said. He said Saddam's execution signals a double standard "in terms of dealing with the past atrocities in Iraq, but ignoring Afghanistan." Afghan President Humid Karzai said the killing of Saddam was "the work of the Iraqi government" and would have "no effect" on Afghanistan. However, he appeared to criticize the execution's timing. "We wish to say that Eid is a day for happiness and reconciliation. It is not a day for revenge," Karzai told reporters at the presidential palace after offering Eid prayers at Kabul's main mosque. Karzai did not comment on whether Afghanistan should have war crimes trials. Nadery said that high-profile figures like Taliban leader Mullah Omar and Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden should be put on trial, and that other fighters from the war with the Soviets, the country's 1990s civil war and from the Taliban should also face justice. An estimated 50,000 civilians died during the 1992-96 war, a time of anarchy that gave rise to the Taliban. Many commanders from that era now hold positions of power in the Afghan government.
BEIJING (30 December 2006) Xinhua - CHINESE Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said here Saturday that the Iraqi affairs should be decided by the Iraqi people. Qin made the remarks when asked to comment on the execution of Saddam Hussein. He said China hopes Iraq can realize stability and development in an early date. Saddam Hussein, born on April 28, 1937, was deposed by the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. He was hanged on Saturday morning after he was handed over to the Iraqi authorities for execution. Editorial commentary New China News Agency
BEIJING (31 December 2006) Xinhua - AS Muslims worldwide are preparing to welcome the joyful religious holiday of Eid al-Adha starting from Saturday, the ousted and jailed former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was hastily executed by hanging at dawn in Iraq. The former Iraqi strongman who had been in power for decades and wielded considerable influence in the Middle East for many years has finally perished for good. History will be the best judge of the rights and wrongs of the former Iraqi leader, but the fact that the Iraqi government and the U.S. authorities in Iraq chose to execute Saddam in such a hasty way is something worth thinking about. It is widely believed in the international community that Saddam's execution will not solve the problems and clear the troubles currently haunting Iraq. It is true that Saddam Hussein should be held accountable for political, economic and social problems in Iraq during decades of his reign. The major cause of Iraq's current chaos and conflicts is not the person who was in prison, but the United States which launched the Iraq War in 2003 and has since maintained its military occupation. As far as the foreign occupation is still there, anti-occupation insurgencies will not stop, and the conflicts and chaos will not end in Iraq. One of the major reasons for the U.S. to take the trouble to launch the Iraq War was to establish a pro-U.S. government in Baghdad in order to replace the anti-U.S. Saddam regime, so it can promote the American-style democracy and values in the country. What the U.S. government didn't expect was that it was exactly its military interference that has intensified the already-existing conflicts among Iraqi sects. Moreover, unfair power redistribution in the wake of the fall of the Saddam regime has weakened the authority of the Iraqi central government, while some sectarian paramilitary forces have been bogged down in frequent and violent bloodshed. In face of this situation, the jailed Saddam Hussein didn't have much influence. Ever since Saddam's rule, Iraq has been in the whirlpool of the Middle East crisis. The current disorder in Iraq offered a wide leak for foreign forces, especially some extremist and aggressive forces, to get involved in Iraq's domestic affairs, further exacerbating the turbulence in the country. For this, the occupiers should be held responsible. To sum up, it's evident that an end to Iraq's conflicts and insurgencies is unlikely to be achieved by simply trying to get rid of Saddam Hussein physically. What's worse, executing the former Iraqi leader may even worsen the already bad situation in the country.
KUALA LUMPUR (1 January 2007) Xinhua - FORMER Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said here on Monday that the execution of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein last Saturday was "a public murder." Meanwhile Malaysia, which currently holds the chair of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), expressed its surprise on Mr Hussein's execution and questioned the legal procedures under which the sentence had been carried out. Mahathir said in a strongly-worded statement that the execution was "sanctioned" by United States President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, labeling Bush and Blair as "war criminals," according to Malaysia's national news services Bernama. Mahathir was a member of International Committee for the Defense of Mr Hussein. He said that the sadistic act of broadcasting the execution to the whole world was "a travesty of justice." It also meant to demonstrate the imperial power of the United States and served as a warning to peace loving people that they must either bow to "the dictates of the Bush administration or face the consequences of a public lynching," he said. The Malaysian ex-leader also said that the entire trial process on Mr Hussein was "a mockery of justice." "Defense counsels were brutally murdered, witnesses threatened and judges removed for being impartial and replaced by puppet judges. Yet, we are told that Iraq was invaded to promote democracy, freedom and justice," he was quoted by Bernama as saying. Mahathir once strongly opposed the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 when he was the Malaysian prime minister then. He accused Bush of killing more Iraqis than Saddam Hussein ever did. Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi last Saturday issued a statement, saying that Malaysia was concerned that the sentencing and execution of Saddam Hussein would worsen the existing sectarian violence that has prevented any meaningful nation building or reconstruction from taking place in Iraq. Badawi hoped that the execution of Saddam Hussein must not result in the prolonging of violence and misery that had caused so much suffering to the people of Iraq. Badawi also hoped that that the present Iraqi government will be guided by the principles of justice and fairness in matters of governance, ensuring that all Iraqis are treated equally and with dignity. He said that the people of Iraq should resolve to overcome differences which existed between them and begin to embark upon a new era of national reconciliation and national unity. Last Saturday, Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak also said that Malaysia was concerned that the execution of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein would intensify the conflict in Iraq. However, he said, Malaysia in principle respected the decision made by the Iraqi government which was elected by the people.
CANBERRA (30 December 2006) Xinhua - AUSTRALIAN Prime Minister John Howard on Saturday said former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's execution was significant because he was given a proper trial and dealt with according to Iraqi law. Saddam Hussein, born on April 28, 1937, was deposed by the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. He was hanged on Saturday morning after he was handed over to the Iraqi authorities for execution. "The real significance is that this man has been given a proper trial, due process was followed," Howard told reporters. "There was an appeal that was dismissed and he has been dealt with in accordance with the law of Iraq," he said. "I believe there is something quite heroic about a country that is going through the pain and the suffering that Iraq is going through, yet still extends due process to somebody who was a tyrant and brutal suppresser and murderer of his people," he added. "That is the mark of a country that is trying against fearful odds to embrace democracy and it is a country that deserves sympathy and support and not to be abandoned," he said.
TOKYO (31 December 2006) Xinhua - JAPAN said Saturday it hoped that the Iraqi government can overcome problems in public security and other issues and become a stable country after the execution of its former president Saddam Hussein earlier in the day. "Japan hopes the Iraqi government will overcome such tough issues as national reconciliation and improvement in public order to become a stable state," Foreign Minister Taro Aso said in a statement. Japan will continue to offer its assistance to the country in coordination with the international community, he said. Aso also said in the statement that the Japanese Embassy in Iraq has confirmed from the Iraqi government that the former president was executed Saturday. According to Kyodo News, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also reaffirmed Japan's support to the country following the reports of the execution. "Japan hopes Iraq will turn into a stable country and will continue supporting the country together with the international community," Abe was quoted as saying.
NEW DELHI (31 December 2006) Xinhua - INDIA has expressed disappointment about the execution of Iraqi former president Saddam Hussein and hoped the process of restoring peace in Iraq will not be affected. Sunday's The Hindu newspaper quoted Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee as saying, "We had already expressed the hope that the execution would not be carried out. We are disappointed that it has been. We hope that this unfortunate event will not affect the process of reconciliation, restoration of peace and normalcy in Iraq." After informed about the news, the Indian government issued a general alert to all states to strengthen security around foreign missions. Indian residents in several places including India-controlled Kashmir, south Indian state Kerala and Andhra Pradesh had went on street to protest the execution of Saddam Hussein. By Krishna Iyer, The Hindu
KOCHI, India (31 December 2006) - FORMER Indian Supreme Court judge, V.R. Krishna Iyer, has condemned the hanging of the former Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein. In a statement, he said: "I respect the great American people but detest President Bush the bully. Iraq is a sovereign country. No other country can invade a sovereign nation under International Law except when international sanctions approved by the United Nations are permitted. President Bush violated international law when he militarily attacked Iraq for no reason except for freebooting and plundering its oil resources. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis were killed by the American Military. This is atrocious. Saddam Hussein was the President of Iraq. He has perhaps committed crimes as President. It is for the people of Iraq to overthrow him, or remove his rule and not for America or its terrible President. A court trial was gone through. I regard it a farce. The death sentence was foregone since Bush wished it. The sentence by a counterfeit court cannot carry conviction especially because President Bush managed it all. Saddam Hussein's hanging is a brutal murder for which history will hold Bush guilty." http://www.hindu.com/2006/12/31/stories/2006123103560800.htm Hanging will haunt Bush, reports The Toronto Star's Haroon Siddiqui
Haroon Siddiqui
HYDERABAD (4 January 2007) - I AM TAKEN ABACK by the reaction in India to Saddam Hussein's hanging. The anger cuts across religious and political divides. This secular nation of 1.2 billion - the world's largest democracy and emerging economic powerhouse - has as many Muslims as Muslim Pakistan, at about 145 million. But its majority is Hindu and it has significant pockets of Christians, Sikhs, Zoroastrians and others. Yet the condemnation has been near universal. More tellingly, there has been little or no echo here of the Iraqi sectarian divide, with the Shiites there celebrating Sunni Saddam's death. There is even criticism, from both the right and the left, of the Indian government's muted response to the execution, New Delhi's stance dictated by the increasingly close relations with the U.S., exemplified by the controversial nuclear co-operation agreement. If India is a key barometer of the non-Western world, and it often is, Saddam's hanging will come to haunt George W. Bush. Far from being "an important milestone in Iraq becoming a democracy," as he so brazenly put it, the hanging is widely seen as an occupying power's jungle justice against a tyrant whose worst crimes were committed when he was an American ally but who was condemned only after he went against his benefactors. He was responsible for killing 1 million Iranians in the 1980-'88 war and murdering and gassing tens of thousands of his own Shiite and Kurdish populations - war crimes whose details, and with them the West's complicity, went to the grave with him. The lesson, said an editorial in the Deccan Chronicle, the regional English daily, is that "the U.S. will not tolerate leaders who do not follow its diktat." The hanging has been the topic of conversation in both the public and private spheres. You can't escape it in any gathering. The reaction is all the more remarkable given that, unlike in Europe and Canada, the death penalty is even more acceptable in these parts than in the United States. Muslims, in particular, have historically seen it as the price for maintaining law and order. Burning Bush in effigy, Muslim crowds in several cities have been blaming him for the timing of the hanging, on the day of Eid al-adha, the festival that coincides with the end of the annual Haj pilgrimage and which symbolizes forgiveness and reconciliation. The media here have carried the quote of a pilgrim in Saudi Arabia: "Would it be okay if the president of the United States were to be hanged on Christmas Day?" Protestors noted with admiration that, notwithstanding the secularist Saddam's frequent and brutal persecution of religious activities, he held up a copy of the Qur'an on the way to the gallows and had on his lips the kalima ? "God is great," the first testament of Muslim faith, which the believers are also enjoined to repeat just before death. An oft-stated sentiment has been that the wrong man has been hanged, given the tens of thousands killed under Bush's invasion and occupation of Iraq. Muslims and non-Muslims alike have spoken well of what they saw as Saddam's dignified departure amid the mayhem in the hanging chamber, as captured on videos. His composure and defiance in refusing a hood have been hailed as signs of personal courage. By contrast, his American and Iraqi captors and executors have been characterized as cowards. Noting his 3 a.m. burial, away from public spotlight, Siyasat, a secular Urdu language daily here, headlined: "Now they are afraid of his grave." Saddam's sloganeering also hit the right note for many Indians. The message in his last letter ("Struggle on against the invaders," and "Long live Iraq ... Long live Palestine") and his last words on the gallows ("The nation will be victorious and Palestine is Arab") have found resonance among a people long supportive of Palestinian rights and vehemently opposed to the occupation of Iraq. The letters to the editor columns have captured these sentiments well, as the following four by non-Muslims show. "Saddam was fit to go down in history as a tyrant. Now he has been elevated to the status of a martyr by an impatient America," wrote Rajneesh Tiwari in the Hindu, the much respected English-language secular daily in south India. "Although there were few sympathizers for Saddam, his execution will only increase hatred for America and other Western nations," wrote Aditya Deshpande in the same newspaper. "It is because of American policies that terrorism is increasing in the world," wrote Dr. Chandra Sekhar. "The Bush administration has destroyed an ancient civilization and its ruler. If Saddam deserved the death penalty for ordering the killing of 148 Shiites, what ought to be the penalty for Mr. Bush for the deaths of 600,000 Iraqis?" asked Ram Das. When you think about it, the overall Indian response is perhaps not that different than the sentiment of Canadians in this regard. By this I do not mean the views of our political class and many in the media establishment, which remain under the spell of the American spin, but rather those of ordinary Canadians. *Haroon Siddiqui is the Toronto Star's editorial page editor Source: http://www.thestar.com/article/167592 "Clear procedural difficulties" in trial process: Congress; a heinous act, says CPI (M)
Hurried execution, observes CPI
Paswan terms it a "dark passage" in world history
An "unjust action, feels JD (U)
Special Correspondent, The Hindu
NEW DELHI (31 December 2006) - MOST political parties, barring the Bharatiya Janata Party, on Saturday condemned the execution of the former Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein. The Congress said the hanging validated its apprehensions of "victors' justice," as there were "clear procedural difficulties" in the trial process. The "undue haste in execution" did not carry any credibility. "Nevertheless, we hope that this unfortunate event will not stand in the way of the process of restoring normality and reconciliation in Iraq." The Communist Party of India (Marxist) denounced the execution, which "will be condemned by all those who believe that an imperialist occupying power has no right to violate national sovereignty and dispense justice on those whom they had illegally overthrown." The party said the execution would increase the hatred against the U.S. among the Arab people, and called upon all its units and democratic organisations to protest "this heinous act." The Government of India should realise that its strategic alliance with the Bush administration would harm the country's interests. The CPI condemned the "hurried" execution without going through the full process of law. "This act will aggravate the situation in Iraq, making it difficult to restore normality. It may even lead to the break-up of that country, which was a cradle of ancient civilisation." All India Trade Union Congress general secretary Gurudas Dasgupta noted that the trial was against the accepted norms of international law. General secretary of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions Chittabrata Majumdar said the killing was a "cruel act of vengeance with a political motive." Lok Jan Shakti Party president and Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan called it a "dark passage" in world history. Iraq was among the first countries to recognise Bangladesh as an independent nation. Mr. Hussein had always supported India on the Kashmir issue and assisted it during the oil crisis, he pointed out. "A huge mistake" The Janata Dal (United), a National Democratic Alliance partner, said the execution was an "unjust action," which showed the U.S. quest for domination of the world was undermining all international norms. Describing the U.S invasion of Iraq as a "huge mistake," the party president Sharad Yadav called upon "all those who believe in justice and fair play" to stand up against this undemocratic and short sighted action. Samajwadi Party leaders Amar Singh and Shahid Siddiqui criticised the Government of India for its "mild and ritualistic" reaction over the killing of a consistent friend of the country. Mr. Singh said the execution was a slap in the face of all those nations, including India, which had sworn by morality and rule of law. The party would observe a "black day" in Uttar Pradesh on January 4 to protest the "murder" Rebel Janata Dal (Secular) president Surendra Mohan said the execution might ring the death knell for American imperialism. "A secular person" The former Rajya Sabha Chairperson and BJP leader, Najma Heptullah, described Mr. Hussein a "secular" person but did not comment on the hanging. "We consider him a friend of India and a secular man. He was an Iraqi leader. The Iraqi people should decide whether this decision was right or wrong. I cannot speak because he was not my leader or leader of our country," she said. PTI reports: In Thiruvananthapuram, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad said the whole nation was shocked. "It is bad news for the whole world. The Rashtriya Janata Dal condemns the execution," he told presspersons. "Blot on humanity" In Mumbai, Union Minister Sharad Pawar termed the execution a "blot on humanity". The Nationalist Congress Party president blamed Iraq's "puppet" government for it. "What the puppet government has done will be hard to digest for all civilised people," he told reporters. Source: http://www.hindu.com/2006/12/31/stories/2006123103540800.htm Terms Saddam's execution "sad event
SHUNPIKING ONLINE & Agencies
HYDERABAD (5 Jan 2007): THE Jamiat Ulema-i-Pakistan (JUP) Hyderabad chapter, observed a black day and held a protest demonstration at Phulelli bazaar on the call of party chief Shah Mohammad Anas Noorani on Friday to condemn the hanging of deposed Iraqi president Saddam Hussain and demanded registration of a murder case against US president George. W. Bush for atrocities committed against the people in Afghanistan, Iraq and northern areas of Pakistan. Speaking on the occasion MMA's MPA from the city Abdul Rehman Rajput said that US president Bush should be tried for crime against humanity in the international court of justice and be awarded capital punishment. He said the hanging of Saddam Hussain had led to an outcry and people were mourning his execution carried out on the directives of a 'kangaroo court' dictated by the United States. He alleged that silence of Pakistani rulers proved that they were friends of America. JUP leader Haji Moinuddin Sheikh, UC Nazim Hussain Bux Hussaini, Mohammad Ibrahim Sheikh, Nazim Ali Arain and others also condemned the hanging of Saddam Hussain. They rapped Pakistan government for maintaining a criminal silence over the execution of Saddam and said that rulers had proved that they had accepted slavery of the United States. They said that Saddam Hussain courageously faced death and walked to gallows in a cool and composed manner. They said that he shouted Allah-o-Akbar while being hanged, thus he followed in foot-steps of Hazrat Imam Hussain (AS) but did not bow before tyrant. They said that it was high time that rulers should publicly condemn the anti-Islam policies of US and added that policies of present regime had given nothing to masses but price-hike and joblessness. They added that while oil prices recorded decline in international market the same remained unchanged in Pakistan. Earlier Pakistan officials described the execution of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein merely as a sad event and termed it another poignant reminder of the violence that continues to grip Iraq. "We hope that this event would not further exacerbate the security situation. It remains our earnest hope to see peace, stability and reconciliation so that people of Iraq regain control of their affairs in a secure environment," said a statement by the Pakistani foreign office on 30 December. Similarly Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz expressed the hope that peace would prevail in Iraq while terming the execution as "a sad event." MQM leader Altaf Hussain described Saddam Hussein's hanging as disappointing, according to Dawn newspaper. In a statement from London he said that the execution of the former Iraqi president on the day of Eidul Azha had hurt the sentiments of Muslims. He pointed out that since the situation in Iraq had become an international issue, Saddam Hussain should have been tried in the International Court of Justice. The MQM leader recalled that all international human rights organisations, including Amnesty International and US Human Rights Watch, and even the Vatican had opposed the hanging. Mr Hussain deplored that tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis had been killed or wounded during the last three years.
JAKARTA (31 December 2006) Xinhua - THE Indonesian government hoped the execution of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein will not worsen relations between the warring parties and complicate national reconciliation efforts in the country, a spokesman said on Saturday. "The Indonesian government hopes Saddam Hussein's execution will not widen the divide between the warring parties in Iraq and not obstruct efforts to bring about national reconciliation which is a precondition for the restoration of Iraqi sovereignty," Antara news agency quoted foreign ministry spokesman Desra Percaya as saying. "The death sentence passed on Saddam -- which was confirmed by the higher court after an appeal process -- was proof the legal process in Iraq that had taken place although the on-going conflict there was not an ideal situation for a truly fair legal process," the spokesman said. Desra Percaya said that the execution did not come as a surprise as the law had been carried out although not perfectly and Saddam had been given a chance to defend himself. An appeal court on Tuesday upheld Saddam's November 5 death sentence for crimes against humanity in the killing and torture of and other crimes against 148 Shi'ites after a murder attempt against him in the town of Dujail in 1982. The hanging could complicate efforts by Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to heal Iraq's sectarian divisions with violence spiraling out of control and threatening to pitch the country into full-scale civil war, local reports said.
KUALA LUMPUR (30 December 2006) Xinhua - MALAYASIAN Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak said Saturday Malaysia respects the decision of the Iraqi authority to execute former president Saddam Hussein but has reservations as the execution might intensify the conflict in that country. Najib made the remarks in Pekan, Pahang state, when asked to comment on Saddam's execution. "It seems, the new Iraqi government has used its right to carryout the death sentence on former president Saddam Hussein. In principle, we (Malaysia) respect what is done by a government elected by the people," Najib told local media. However, Malaysia has two concerns over this matter, just like many countries of the international community, said Najib. One is the process implemented in the court and the other is whether the death sentence carried out will intensify the conflict in Iraq, said the Malaysian leader. The execution's impact on the internal conflict in Iraq cannot be set aside, said Najib.
DHAKA (30 December 2006) Xinhua - ALTHOUGH major political parties in Bangladesh prefer to keep mum on the execution of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, most people of this predominantly Muslim country appeared shocked to see him being hanged in gallows. Bangladesh TV channels continued telecasting Saddam's execution as lead news throughout the day. General people were seen crowded before television sets to watch with shock and awe how Saddam was hanged to death. "I feel sad for him (Saddam), I don't like the idea of killing people through hanging," a senior journalist commented on condition of anonymity. Hardline Islamic party Islamic Oikya Jote (IOJ) chief Mufti Fazlul Huq Amini said Saddam Hussein was hanged through a controversial court verdict, which would not cast good impact on the Muslim world. Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) president Manjurul Ahsan Khan and general secretary Mujahidul Islam Selim also strongly protested Saddam's death through hanging. They said people of Iraq have the right to try Saddam, not someone else. LUSAKA (30 Dec 2006) (Xinhua) -- ZAMBIAN first and former president Kenneth Kaunda said here that he is terribly angered by the execution of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Kaunda said to Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation that British Prime Minister Tony Blair and United States President George W. Bush must focus on how to end the war in Iraq. Kaunda, who ruled Zambia from its independence in 1964 to 1991,said the execution of Saddam Hussein is not the solution to the many problems in the middle east and specifically, Iraq. Instead, he said, it may just worsen the tension in Iraq. Excerpts from an article published by South Asia Analysis Group, 30 December 2006 B. RAMAN former Indian Chief of Counter Terrorism* "US officials have claimed that the decision to go ahead with the execution was taken by the sovereign Government of Iraq. It was not a US decision. The US role was purely to facilitate the due legal process in accordance with the Iraqi laws by the judiciary of independent Iraq. So, the Americans claim. "Even many non-Muslims will see it not as an act of a super power, confident of its power and its ability to prevail over global jihadi terrorism, but as an act of impotent anger of a power, which has been held at bay by the jihadi terrorists. In an article written after the US occupation of Iraq, I described the US policy as follows: "If we can't get Osama's head, let us at least get Saddam's". "Saddam's head is at their feet---placed there by a double-dealing quisling regime, which has been openly fraternising with the US and secretly conspiring with Iran against the US. ... "People are asking themselves - it is more than three years since the US captured Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, who orchestrated on behalf of Osama bin Laden, the massacre of nearly 3,000 innocent civilians in the US on 9/11. He has not been tried so far, not to talk of being executed. Why the hurry in the case of Saddam? Abu Zubaidah, Ramzi Binalshibh, Hambali, Abu Faraj al-Libbi and many others involved in the most cruel acts of terrorism killing hundreds of civilians have not even been tried so far. Why the hurry in the case of Saddam? "Rightly or wrongly, they will come to the conclusion that in the US analysis if they try and execute these terrorist leaders, there could be more acts of mass casualty terrorism directed against the US and its nationals. "Saddam was not a terrorist. He was just a dictator like many other dictators spawned and fattened by the US in other parts of the world. He was hated by Al Qaeda when he was alive because he was one of the very few secular leaders in the Ummah and because he was a socialist. In the US calculation, the death of Saddam could provoke reprisals, but manageable ones. "His head will be a trophy----not comparable to that of bin Laden, but some trophy all the same. Their calculation that acts of Islamic reprisals would be manageable could go seriously wrong as many calculations of the US in the past have gone. "I weep for Saddam. He was a good friend of India and its people. He always stood by us in the best of times and in the worst of times. I remember the days after the Mumbai blasts of March, 1993, in which nearly 300 innocent Indian civilians were killed by terrorists trained by the ISI. We went from one intelligence agency to another asking for help in investigating the role of Pakistan. The Americans rebuffed us. Protecting Pakistan and its ISI was more important for them than grieving for the Indians killed and helping India to bring to book those responsible. Saddam rushed to our assistance and helped us in whatever little way he could." US led West, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and many such countries have contributed to the creation of the monster called international terrorism beginning with Afghanistan. Invading Iraq will only make it bigger and dangerous. *The writer is Additional Secretary (retired), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, nstitute for Topical Studies, Chennai. E-mail address: itschen36@gmail.com Source: http://www.saag.org/%5Cpapers21%5Cpaper2077.html By SIFELANI TSIKO HARARE (31 December 2006) - THE EXECUTION of Saddam Hussein, Iraq's deposed president, has been roundly condemned by officials and scholars throughout Africa. Most critics insist it won't resolve the U.S-Iraq crisis or ease the orgy of bloodletting. "South Africa remains convinced that his execution is not the panacea to the current political problems in Iraq but could fuel violence in an already volatile situation," Ronnie Mamoepa, spokesperson of the South African foreign affairs ministry, said, speaking for the government. "We reiterate the call made by President Thabo Mbeki that, despite what happened in the past, the United Nations must get involved to help bring peace and stability in Iraq," he said. Zinbabwe: "The execution will strengthen the fight against American imperialism" "His execution will not solve anything," said Zimbabwe's Minister of State for Public and Interactive Affairs, Chen Chimutengwende, who added that it was the Americans and not Iraqis who killed Hussein. "The execution will strengthen the fight against American imperialism and the Americans will be defeated." Dr. Godfrey Chikowore, a political analyst at the University of Zimbabwe lambasted the US and its allies for persecuting a leader who opposed imperialistic ambitions. "It's cruelty against heads of states of the developing world. An alternative to execution should have been found," he said. Another Zimbabwe critic and media analyst Dr. Tafataona Mahoso said both the British and the Americans had nothing to gain from the "barbaric" killing of Saddam. "This execution is an act of desperation because the government put in Iraq by the occupying forces has failed to manage. This execution will incense most Third World leaders." He said Saddam's execution was a tragedy to Americans who wanted to project a clean image of their country. "The execution is not going to stop anything. The execution images are going to attract the sympathy of the world against the United States and Britain," he said. Furthermore, the execution would fuel tension between Americans and Arabs and push Iraq deeper into a new wave of chaos and bloodbath, he added. Hussein was killed for the role the US charged he played in the death of 148 Shiites in the town of Dujail in 1982, after a bid to topple his regime. A member of the Majlisul Ulama in Zimbabwe said it was worrying that Saddam's execution was coming at a time when Muslim world was marking Eid Mubarak or Eid al-Adha -the Feast of the Sacrifice, a major religious holiday for Muslims. "His execution really confirms that the Muslim world is facing a real threat of persecution from America," he said. "They want to persecute our people. Allah will stand by us until victory is achieved over the Third World bully, George Bush and his America." The strongest reactions to Saddam's execution came from Libya, where leader Muammar Ghaddafi strongly condemned his hanging of what he called a "prisoner of war". Mr Ghaddafi announced three days of mourning and cancelled national celebrations for Eid al-Adha, a major Muslim festive event. In other North Africa countries, reactions were stronger among ordinary citizens than from government leaders. It was especially noted that Saddam was hanged on Eid al-Adha, a day during the Hajj that is especially devoted to forgiveness. In the majority of African countries, however, the hanging of Iraq's former president did not cause government reactions. Some Muslim organisations have reacted, but mostly to the timing of the execution. Some demonstrations have been announced, such as by the East African Muslim Students' Federation, which unites Muslim students from Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi. Ugandan Muslim students, for example, plan a "peaceful demonstration" on Friday. *Tsiko is The Black Star News' Southern Africa correspondent based in Harare. Material on North Africa has been added to the article by shunpiking Online. Source:http://www.blackstarnews.com/?c=122&a=2816 South Africa called for UN intervention in Iraq. "South Africa remains convinced that his execution is not the panacea to the current political problems in Iraq but could fuel violence in an already volatile situation," said Foreign Affairs spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa. South African Government statement on execution of former Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein The South African government noted reports of the execution of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, today the 30th December 2006 in Baghdad. From the date of the imposition of the death penalty by the Iraqi court, South Africa had joined the international community in expressing its principled opposition to the application of capital punishment to Saddam. South Africa remains convinced that he's execution is not the panacea for the current political problems in Iraq but could fuel violence in an already volatile situation. Accordingly, we reiterate the call by President Thabo Mbeki that despite what happened in the past, the United Nations must get involved to bring about peace and stability in Iraq. Issued by Ronnie Mamoepa on 082 990 4853 Department of Foreign Affairs Private Bag X152 Pretoria 0001 30 December 2006 South African Government Calls for a Fair Trail for Saddam Hussein The South African Government joins the international community in expressing its rejection of calls for the execution of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in line with dictates of our own constitution. Such calls will only serve to pre-empt the outcome of any trial that will be instituted against Saddam Hussein. The challenge facing the international community is to ensure that Saddam is given a fair trial free from perceived or real political interference. In this context, the South African Government is of the view that the due process of international law must be allowed to take its full course, in line with international norms and standards. The independence of the judiciary in determining the outcome of such a trial must be underlined. Any suggestion that the outcome is already pre-determined will only undermine the confidence of the people in the judiciary and notion of the rule of law. The SA government reiterates its view that above the arrest of Saddam Hussein, more needs to be done to restore peace and security in Iraq. The escalating violence attests to the urgency of the need for the restoration of Iraqi sovereignty and transfer of power to the Iraqi people. Central to this process is the role of the UN. Issued by Ronnie Mamoepa at 082-990-4853 Department of Foreign Affairs P/Bag X152 Pretoria 0001 18 December 2003 By FIRAS AL-ATRAQCHI*
Jordanian woman stands in front of a picture of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein during a protest against his execution in Amman.(Reuters photo) (8 January 2007) - ON THE FIRST DAY of Eid Al-Adha, Arabs of the Middle East and North Africa awoke to news that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had been executed as per a death sentence handed down by an Iraqi court stemming from a guilty verdict for crimes against humanity. The end of Saddam, known for more than three decades as an Iraqi strongman and leader of one of the most powerful Arab nations, and his execution after standing trial for a year shook the very foundations of most nations in the region. While some countries such as Kuwait (which endured an Iraqi invasion in 1990), Iran (which fought an eight-year war with Iraq), and Israel (which was bombed by Iraqi Scud missiles in 1991) rejoiced at his execution, most Arab peoples were visibly shocked. Perhaps to the point of failing to properly digest the fact he was really dead.
In Iraq, the government of Prime Minister Nour Al-Maliki announced that the country had now closed the book on one of the darkest chapters in its modern history - a chapter written in the fires of revolution and counter-revolution, executions, hangings, warfare and invasion. To drive the point home that Saddam had actually been executed, the Iraqi government released footage showing a sleepless man being led to the gallows by a handful of balaclava-clad men who appeared to be treating the former president with respect. There was no audio track to accompany the footage which ended with the noose being placed around Saddam's neck. And so, for the first half of the first day of Saddam's execution, the Arab world was somber, quietly asking itself why this man - or any man - would be executed on the holiest day of the Islamic lunar calendar. There were no protests in the streets of Amman, Gaza, Tikrit, Mosul, Sanaa, Khartoum. Arabs were simply dumbfounded. But then, as fate (or a sinister scheme) would have it, a fuse was lit and dynamite was thrown, and the entire Arab world erupted in anger. A clandestine mobile phone video was smuggled out of the execution chamber and within a few hours had spread so quickly on the internet that one day researchers are likely to cite it as evidence of a new information age. By nightfall on the first day of Eid, the picture of a man led to his execution in a respectful manner had been entirely dashed. And reality set in. The new video - with audio - showed an Iraqi and Arab Muslim leader being taunted, cursed in his final few seconds of life. The video also allowed audiences to hear someone unknown call out the name of Muqtada Sadr, a junior-level cleric whose relatives were allegedly killed by Saddam's forces. A man today blamed for much of the death squads and sectarian violence in Iraq. Another man shouts at Saddam saying he will go to hell. The calm that had persisted in the first few hours after the first video was released by the government was now quickly replaced with anger.
Another man voiced exasperation and disbelief that Saddam was executed on the first day of Eid Al-Adha, a day immediately following the last official rites of the Hajj pilgrimage; it also marks the start of a festive period traditionally earmarked for forgiveness and compassion. But the underlying dangers inherent in both the execution of Saddam Hussein and the release of the second, unofficial video go far beyond mere failure to adhere to Islamic customs. Arabs are questioning whether the purposeful humiliation of Saddam was part of an orchestrated effort to discredit and disgrace all Arabs. Arab anger should not be dismissed offhand but should be understood, particularly in regards to the purported trial of Saddam and senior Baathists.
Several lawyers representing Saddam and his entourage were killed; others were tossed out of the court, while judges who appeared to be lenient or not harsh enough were quickly replaced. The Egyptian lawyers syndicate said in a statement that the way the trial was conducted wasted a historical chance to achieve justice due to the political interventions that robbed the court of its independence and neutrality. The statement didn't argue the "right of the Iraqi people to put Saddam on trial and punish him for his crimes." But it stressed that trial procedure didn't give Saddam his right to a fair and a just trial. In a statement released immediately after Saddam's hanging, Human Rights Watch said: "The execution of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein following a deeply flawed trial for crimes against humanity marks a significant step away from respect for human rights and the rule of law in Iraq." Arabs say the verdict had been predetermined and that the duration of the trial was merely to discredit not only Saddam, but all Arab leaders. Furthermore, they question why Saddam was singled out for prosecution for only one incident - the alleged killing of Shiites in Dujail who reportedly tried to assassinate the Iraqi leader - and not other crimes. Why, they ask, was Saddam prosecuted for a crime related to the Iraq-Iran war and involving an assassination plot supposedly hatched by the Iranians? Why did Saddam not stand trial for alleged atrocities committed prior to the Iraq-Iran war or after? Why was the trial of the gassing of Kurds in Halabja aborted? Some Arabs compared Saddam's execution - by a government seen as a proxy to a foreign invading force - to the targeted killings of Palestinian leaders by Israel, a country also considered a foreign invading force on Arab lands.
They also point to the exploding death toll in Iraq - up to 625,000 dead in three-and-a-half years - and wonder why no one has been held to account for those crimes. The Arabs are also questioning why Saddam wasn't handed over to an international court, as many prominent legal experts - and his family - had called for. Critics of the trial and court system had argued that Saddam would not receive a fair trial in Iraq. They pointed to how those accused in the Rwanda massacres of 800,000 Hutus and Tutsis were brought before an international court. They point to the late Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic who faced an international crimes court in The Hague and the slew of those accused of crimes against humanity in the Bosnian war of 1993. Golden opportunity to create the first just, fair and transparent judicial reckoning of an Arab leader by Arabs has not only been missed, but squandered, say Arab moderates allied with the US. Ironically, while the Arabs are embittered against the Maliki government for allowing the hanging to become a spectacle of sectarianism appearing to pit Shiite versus Sunni, they are reserving most of their anger for the United States. In protests stretching from Morocco to Indonesia, demonstrators carried pictures of Saddam and burned effigies of US President George W. Bush and the American flag. They charged that the United States had allowed Saddam to be humiliated by Sadr's followers and also permitted his hanging on a religious holiday. They claimed that the hanging was part and parcel of a US-Israeli war against Islam, never forgetting that Bush had once called the war on terrorism a new crusade. Critics also said as an occupying force the United States is fully responsible for what transpires in Iraq. Arabs say it was the US which captured Saddam, which broadcast video of him, allowed pictures of him in his underwear to be printed, allowed the court to succumb to sectarian vendettas, and which finally handed him over to the Shiite Iraqis knowing fully well he would be humiliated. Within 24 hours of the second video's dissemination, US officials were in crisis mode trying to deflect any anger from the Arab world. First, they issued statements saying they were shocked Saddam was executed so swiftly. Arab columnists fired back questioning why US media reports on Thursday, December 28 had predicted Saddam would be executed before Sunday - an obvious contradiction. Then US officials argued that they had pleaded with Iraqi officials to delay the execution order and not rush to hang the man. This, of course, fell on deaf ears in the Arab world because no one believed the US was not in control from start to finish. By Monday, US officials were trying to salvage some credibility by claiming that the execution was entirely an Iraqi affair and that they had nothing to do with it. But Arab critics asked how, for example, this could be true given that three US military officers and several American legal experts were present in the court every day. They also questioned why Saddam's US guards had kept him awake all night before handing him over to the Iraqis. News media reports claim it was a tactic to make the man look disheveled. By Tuesday, three days after the execution, US media was highlighting stories of the jovial and friendly relationship between Saddam and his US captors. By Tuesday evening, US media reports cited several US generals who were releasing statements that they would have carried out the execution differently. One report indicated that Saddam had received full military honors from his US escort. On Tuesday as well, Iraqi officials said they had launched an investigation into who released the mobile phone video and who shouted taunts and insults as Saddam was about to be hanged. On Wednesday, Iraqi officials said they had arrested a guard, while the Associated Press cited one source blaming Iraqi security advisor Mowaffaq Al Robaie for capturing the video. But none of these has softened Arab anger. Ironically, Saddam, who led Iraq with an iron fist and was brutal in suppressing dissent, is now being called the Imam of Arab resistance. Perhaps, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak summed up the current mood on the street when he declared that Saddam's trial, humiliation, steadfastness in sight of the hangman's noose, and ultimate execution have established the former strongman as a martyr in the eyes of most Arabs. Saddam's alleged crimes have been all but forgotten and replaced with mounting anger at an imperialist West. *Firas Al-Atraqchi is a Canadian journalist of Iraqi heritage. Holding a master's degree in journalism and mass communication, he has 14 years of experience covering Middle East issues and he previously worked as a senior editor at Aljazeera International. You can reach him at firas.atrqchi@gmail.com. Source By DAHR JAMAIL and ALI AL-FADHILY*
BAGHDAD (5 January 2007) (IPS) - THE FOOTAGE of the execution of Saddam Hussein has generated controversy in Iraq that is refusing to die down. Footage of Saddam's last moments, taken by an onlooker with a mobile phone, shows the former dictator appearing calm and composed while dealing with taunts from witnesses below him. The audio reveals several men praising the Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and Mohammed Bakr al-Sadr, founder of the Shia Dawa Party, who was killed by Saddam in 1980. "Peace be upon Muhammad and his followers," shouted someone near the person who filmed the events. "Curse his enemies and make victorious his son Muqtada! Muqtada! Muqtada." These chants are commonly used by members of Muqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army militia.. There has been a huge international backlash to the footage. In India millions of Muslims demonstrated against the execution being carried out during the sacred festival of Eid. Across Iraq, Shias seem mostly pleased. "Of course things will be better now that Saddam is dead," Saed Abdul-Hussain, a cleric from the Shia dominated city Najaf told IPS in Baghdad. "It is like hitting the snake on the head and I hope his followers will hand over their weapons and accept the fact that they lost." But few believe that Saddam was inspiring the armed resistance. "Who is Saddam and why would he affect anything after his death," a 55-year-old teacher from Fallujah told IPS. "The idea of his leading the resistance from jail is too ridiculous for a sane man to believe. We know that Mujahideen (holy warriors) are the only ones who will kick the occupation out of the country."
"Saddam was terminated the day he was captured by occupation forces," Salah al-Dulaimy from Ramadi told IPS. "Things will continue to be as bad as they are for both Iraqis and Americans because nothing has really changed. A president who was removed from power four years ago is just an ordinary man although the way he was executed and the timing of the execution was a blessing to so many Iraqis, who realised the necessity of being united no matter what religion and sect they belong to." Facing broadening criticism over release of the mobile phone footage, the Iraqi government arrested a guard accused of filming the execution. Iraqi officials said on Wednesday that the execution chamber was infiltrated by outsiders bent on inflaming sectarian tensions. "Whoever leaked this video meant to harm national reconciliation and drive a wedge between Shias and Sunnis," National Security Adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, who was among 20 officials and other witnesses present at the execution at dawn last Saturday told reporters. Rubaie later insisted that there was nothing improper about the shouting from the crowd, or the fact that executioners and officials danced around Saddam's body. "This is the tradition of the Iraqis, when they do something, they dance around the body and they express their feelings," he said in an interview to CNN. A senior Interior Ministry official told reporters that the hanging was supposed to be carried out by hangmen employed by the Interior Ministry but that "militias" had managed to infiltrate the executioners' team. The airing of the footage has further damaged the government of embattled Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and possibilities of reconciliation between political and sectarian groups in Iraq. On Thursday the Iraqi government postponed the hanging of two of Saddam Hussein's companions. Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikrit, Saddam's half brother and former intelligence chief, along with Awad Ahmed al-Bandar, head of Saddam's revolutionary court, were to have been hanged Thursday. A senior official from Maliki's office told a reporter that the executions were postponed "due to international pressure." U.S. Presidential press secretary Tony Snow, formerly of Fox News, dismissed calls to join international condemnation of Saddam Hussein's execution. "The government is investigating the conduct of some people within the chamber and I think we'll leave it at that," Snow told reporters. "But the one thing you got to keep in mind is that you got justice." The U.S. military claims it had no control over the events at the execution, despite handing Saddam over to Iraqi authorities just minutes before the footage was taken. The U.S. military then transported the body to Tikrit where it was later buried. Many Iraqis simply want the bloodshed and chaos that has engulfed their country to end. "I just pray to Allah to stop the bleeding that started when those strangers came into our country," 65-year-old Ahmed Alwan from Baghdad told IPS. "There is no future for us to think about under such a mess, and killing Saddam will just add more hatred between Iraqis, especially with the savage comments that appeared on the video." Most Iraqis seem skeptical of the current U.S.-backed Iraqi government, which has been unable to restore even basic services, let alone security. "Our government thought they could fool us again by killing the man," 30-year-old grocer Atwan in the Hurriya district of Baghdad told IPS. "We have had enough and what we demand is a real change, or else we will take another course regardless of what our religious and political leaders tell us. What we want is a better life and real brotherhood between Iraqis." *Ali al-Fadhily is Baghdad correspondent for Inter-Press Services and Dahr Jamail is a specialist writer who has spent eight months reporting from inside Iraq and has been covering the Middle East for several years. Shunpiking Online & Agencies
TEHRAN (5 January 2006) - AN INFLUENTIAL Iranian cleric said on Friday the United States wanted to use Saddam Hussein's execution to stoke tensions between Shias and Sunnis. A mobile phone video of Shia Iraqi officials taunting the former Sunni president on the gallows has inflamed sectarian passions inside Iraq, already on the brink of civil war, and sparked growing outrage from Sunni Arabs. And Yousef Molaee, an Iranian international law expert, took the view that the dawn execution was a failure for justice. Mr Hussein, who was executed on Saturday, was tried in a US-sponsored court to which he was transported by U.S. forces from a U.S. prison but the U.S. military alleges it had no role in the hanging and would have handled it differently.
"They want to use Saddam's death to portray divisions among Shia and Sunnis. Dictators have no religion. Saddam was not a Sunni and he did not believe in any religion," he said. "Saddam did not kill just Shias." "Do not doubt that the enemy's plan in Iraq and Iran is to inflame differences among Shias and Sunnis. In Iran and Iraq, for years, Shias and Sunnis have been living together peacefully," said Khatami, a member of a powerful clerical body, the Assembly of Experts and a regular leader of Friday prayers in the capital, Tehran. Officials in predominantly Iran have said the former president's execution was a victory for Iraqis, while warning that his hanging could cause more insecurity in the violence-torn country. "With regard to Saddam's execution, it amounts to a victory of the Iraqi people as they were the winners of his fall," Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hamid Reza Asefi was quoted by the official IRNA news agency as saying. "Saddam's regime was overthrown because the Iraqi people did not support him. It is crystal clear that the United States should not misinterpret his fall and take the credit to itself," he said. Asefi also lashed out at the former Iraqi president for launching consecutive wars on Iran and Kuwait in the 1980s and early 1990s, saying his conducts had weakened the Arab and Islamic fronts. "War on Iran led to a split in the Islamic world and serious problems with respect to unity among Muslims," he said, adding that the war on Kuwait dealt another blow on the Arab world and further deepened discord among Arabs.
"On internal affairs, Saddam put massacre of Shiites on his agenda. In a broader dimension, he masterminded plans for killing Kurds and sowing discord between Shiites and Sunnis," Asefi said. But he also declared that Mr Hussein's trial was closed quickly in a bid to cover up Washington's support for the former Iraqi regime in the 1980s. "Saddam's case was closed soon. If the cases of wars on Iran and Kuwait had been also examined, the U.S. alliance and role would have been disclosed," Asefi said. "So, Washington tried to end the case with the investigation into Saddam's crimes in Dujail," he added. Anglo-American media reports emphasizing Iranian "joy" over the execution of Mr Hussein have the twofold aim of promoting the absence of a European-style state and sectarian conflict as a historical lie to justify imperial intervention, and more pragmatically to keep the door open for Iran on the fallacious thinking that it will help the US in Iraq in exchange for a deal over its nuclear development program. The Iranian official also warned that Saddam's execution could lead to an upsurge of insecurity in Iraq in the short term. "Arrest of Saddam escalated insecurity. It is predictable that his execution will cause more insecurity for a short period of time," Asefi was quoted as saying. Just few hours after the Iraqi government executed Saddam by hanging early Saturday, at least 30 people were killed and more than 45 others wounded when a car bomb went off at a busy market in the Shiite city of Kufa in southern Iraq. By DAHR JAMAIL and ALI AL-FADHILY*
Saddam Hussein was hanged on what is held to be a day of mercy and feasting in the Islamic world. It is usually celebrated with the slaughter of a lamb, which represents the innocent blood of Ishmael, offered for sacrifice by his father, the prophet Abraham, to honour God. Judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin, the Kurdish judge who had first presided over Saddam Hussein's trial told reporters that the execution at the beginning of Eid was illegal under Iraqi law, besides violating the customs of Islam. Amin said that under Iraqi law "no verdict should be implemented during the official holidays or religious festivals." While Iraqi Shias, particularly those in the U.S.-backed Iraqi government, view the execution as a sign that Allah supports them, many Sunnis across Iraq and the Middle East now see Saddam Hussein as a great martyr. "Saddam Hussein is the greatest martyr of the century," Ahmed Hanousy, a student in Amman in Jordan told IPS. A 50 year-old man in Baghdad said "the Americans and Iranians meant to insult all Arabs by this execution." Others see the execution in all sorts of ways. Sabriya Salih, a 55-year-old man from Baghdad who was evicted from his home by Shia death squads told IPS "I am happy for this end. I have too much to worry about now, but look what a holy death Saddam received." Salih paused and added: "He died at the holiest moments of the year with pilgrims just finishing their pilgrimage ceremonies hailing "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest) as if God meant to give him that glory." In official expression of anger, Libya denounced the timing of the execution and announced three days of official mourning. Eid celebrations were cancelled. The governments of Saudi Arabia and Tunisia also condemned the timing of the execution. Many Iraqis said they were disturbed by the footage just before the execution. "They surprised us by showing the video," 40-year-old Um Sammy told IPS in Baghdad. "I was busy preparing sweets for my guests when I heard my little kids crying in terror. All the children were terrified." A nine-year-old girl from Fallujah who is a refugee in Baghdad said she cried when she saw the footage on television. "Why did they do it in Eid? Why did they put it on TV to scare us?" Later, shots of the execution taken by a witness from a mobile phone showed Saddam being taunted by his executioners in his final moments. The video has exacerbated tensions between Sunnis and Shias, who follow Islam in different ways. First broadcast by al-Jazeera Sunday, the shots recorded someone praising Muhammad Bakr al-Sadr. Al-Sadr, founder of the Shia Dawa party and an uncle of Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, was executed by Saddam in 1980. This, coupled with images of Saddam smiling at those taunting him from below the gallows, has evidently drawn widespread sympathy for Saddam. The Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars issued a statement condemning the execution. The Association said this was an execution carried out by the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki "for the Americans." The fact that those hanging Saddam praised al-Sadr is evidence that the Mehdi Army militia of Muqtada al-Sadr controls at least a large portion of Iraq's security forces. This underscores Sunni views that the security forces have been deeply infiltrated by Shia militias. A member of Saddam's defence team, Najib al-Nuaimi, told reporters the day after the execution that no Sunni lawyer was allowed among the witnesses at the execution. "This is not within normal procedures," al-Nuaimi said. He added that the execution was an act of revenge and carried out for political purposes. "It is rather stupid of those in government and their American allies," a Sunni cleric in Ramadi told IPS. "They gifted Saddam the best death at the best moment of the year and enlisted him a hero by all measures." Others were deeply offended by the move. A garbage collector who gave his name as Ali said he wept when he heard the news. "How could there be killing on such a day," he said. "He was 69 years old, and they could have just left him to die in his jail for God's sake." Some Shias objected to the timing for their own reason. "They spoiled my pleasure of his execution by killing him like that," Ilwiya, a 35-year-old Shia woman from Washash village west of Baghdad told IPS. "Now he will be called a martyr because of the bad timing." Thus far, violence continues unabated across Iraq following the execution. The U.S. military has been placed on high alert in anticipation of retaliatory attacks. More than 3,000 U.S. soldiers have now died in Iraq, and according to the Pentagon, the U.S. military is facing more than 100 attacks a day. *Ali al-Fadhily is Baghdad correspondent for IPS. Dahr Jamail is a specialist writer who has spent eight months reporting from inside Iraq and has been covering the Middle East for several years. Shunpiking Online & Agencies
AMMAN (2 January 2006) - JORDANIAN government hoped that there would be no negative consequences for the hanging of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein that would affect the unity and solidarity of Iraqi people, the Jordan's news agency Petra reported on Saturday. Jordanian government spokesman Nasser Judeh was quoted saying that the government called for Iraqis to preserve the unity and to discard violence. The Iraqi people should look for the future in a way that guarantees success in realizing a true national reconciliation amongst all spectra of the Iraqi society, said the spokesman. Jordan will continue its work within its Arab region and on the international level to support efforts that aim to "stop internal fighting and restore stability and security in Iraq", added Judeh.
A protest rally in Amman organized by Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood where Raghad, Saddam Hussein's daughter, made a brief appearance was turned into a launch pad against Iran. The Brotherhood blamed Iran and the US for the execution and demanded that the Iranian embassy in Amman be closed. Raghad was granted political asylum in Amman after the invasion, from where she organized legal defence of her father. Saddam's lawyers in Amman complained that no member of the defence team was allowed to attend the execution. "We denounce the climate of hatred and political vengeance that surrounded the execution," said a statement from the Amman-based team. "The execution ... on the first day of Al-Adha shows contempt for Arab and Muslim feelings." "No defence representative was informed of the time of execution or invited to attend despite the fact a member of our committee was in the Green Zone," in Baghdad, where the Iraqi government and the US embassy are housed. Ms Hussein thanked those assembled for remembering her father, "the martyr." The Minister of Political Development attended this rally, but when al-Hayat asked about his presence, the government hastily replied that it did not express the position of the Jordanian government. Many speakers at the rally vehemently condemned Iran, blaming "the Safavid magi" for the "assassination of Saddam." They shouted slogans condemning Iran, Israel and the United States. One speaker denounced Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, a Sunni Arab fundamentalist, as a "cowardly agent," which caused a disturbance that had to be calmed before the rally could continue, the angry Arab News Service reported. Mahmud Kharabshah (former head of the Jordanian intelligence apparatus) bombastically referred to Mr Hussein as "the hero." This demand is "an index of the depth of the political changes in the Arab world." In 1990 when Iran reopened its mission in Amman, its diplomats spent so much time with the Brotherhood deputies in the Parliament that the Crown Prince joked that Tehran thought it was accredited to the Assembly and not to the Hashemite Palace. There are an estimated 800,000 Iraqis in Jordan, a country of 5.4 million; they are mainly Sunni Arabs and some are wealthy ex-Baathists who have brought enormous amounts of money into the Jordanian economy. For its part, Jordan set an fee of some $30,000 each for immigration. Many others though are destitute refugees. Jordan's majority population is of Palestine origin, who looked favourably on Iraq for supporting their cause while the Hashemite monarchy has always collaborated with Anglo-American hegemony and the Israeli Zionist occupation. In a related development, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the head of the National Security Council of Saudi arabia, had met with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Jordan to coordinate forces against Iran. Shunpiking Online & Agencies
RIYADH (2 January 2006) - SAUDI ARABIA said on Saturday that it was dismayed by the timing of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's hanging, the official SPA news agency said in a commentary. The hanging caused dismay as Mr Hussein was executed at dawn on Saturday, the first day of four-day Muslim festival Eid al-Adha, or Greater Bairam, the commentary said. "It was expected that the trial of Saddam would be longer and go through tight legal procedures, away from politicization," it said. Saudi Arabia, home of Islam with Mecca and Medina, was critical of the execution. Its official al-Ikhbariya television station declared: "There is a feeling of surprise and disapproval that the verdict has been applied during the holy months and the first days of Eid al-Adha. Leaders of Islamic countries should show respect for this blessed occasion ... not demean it."
Since then in Saudi Arabia public execution has become a fine art, with over one hundred people are being beheaded each year. Saudi media, reflecting the interests of the House of Saud, expressed nervousness toward Mr Hussein's execution. In 1964, the reign of King Faisal began in Saudi Arabia and ended in 1975 when he was assassinated by a deranged nephew. Faisal replaced his half brother King Saud, who was pressured into abdicating. Saud had brought the kingdom into severe economic distress through poor leadership and neglect. According to the Angry Arab News Service: "They, like all autocrats and tyrants, are made to think of their precarious thrones. They now feel secure with US occupation troops all around, but that will not last forever. This account of Saddam's execution in Al-Hayat (based on an eyewitness account) http://www.daralhayat.com/arab_news/levant_news/12-2006/Item-20061230-d4d47b5a-c0a8-10ed-0095-49af7dbafeb4/story.html clashes fundamentally with the account of Muwaffaq Ar-Rubay`i (now proven entirely incredible after the release of the footage of the execution). And we should remember that average Iraqis are now dying EVERY DAY under the American occupation. This attention to the execution of Saddam could belittle the lives of ordinary Iraqis who wanted 'neither Bush nor Saddam'.'' Shunpiking Online & Agencies
GAZA (2 January 2007) - PALESTINIANS on on 30 December 2006 immediately condemned the execution of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, who used to be a supporter of the Palestinian cause, and mourned his demise. The ruling Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas called Mr Hussein's hanging a "political assassination" that violated "all international laws". "Saddam Hussein was a prisoner of war," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum told AFP. "(His) hanging... is a political assassination that violates all international laws that are supposed to protect prisoners of war." Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the military wing of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement on Saturday condemned the execution as a "political assassination." "It is a crime of political assassination for every one supports the Palestinian cause," the Brigades said in a statement faxed to reporters. "This crime was carried out according to American and Zionist agenda that eliminate everything that standx by the Palestinian people," the statement added. The Brigades have also called for three days of mourning. Meanwhile, the armed offshoot of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) have mourned Mr Hussein and slammed Arab leaders who remained silence over Mr Hussein's death. "We tell Arab leaders that your silence is considered as approval of what the Americans and their spies have done," a statement by the PRC said. Palestinian human rights organization has also slammed the death penalty against the ousted Iraqi president. On the streets there were scenes of sadness and mourning though the execution took place on the first day of Muslims' festival of Greater Bairam. Groups of people took to the streets in sporadic and unorganized rallies, holding pictures for Saddam Hussein and shouting slogans against Israel, the United States and Arab leaders. "His soul will remain and will give us more power to resist American plans," said Yousef Mussa, 36, who was participating in a rally in the Beach refugee camp in the west of Gaza city. The Palestinians were the principal Arab people who defended Iraq unconditionally from the US invasion during the Persian Gulf War of 1991 and bore the brunt of American revenge and retaliation under George Bush Senior's "Arab World Order." Thousands were ruthlessly driven out of Kuwait. Before the US-led invasion took place in Iraq, the Iraqi president in turn used to assist families of Palestinian martyrs. Right before his death, Saddam Hussein declared, "Palestine is Arab."
These have been fueled by a recent book of interviews published in France, titled Ariel Sharon: An Intimate Portrait. The author is Sharon's confident Uri Dan, who was Fox's News Jerusalem bureau chief and New York Post Correspondent in Jerusalem, and he reveals that Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon told him that he was behind the assassination of President Arafat and that Sharon consulted with US president George W Bush on the matter. Dan claims Sharon got approval from George Bush by phone early in 2004 to proceed with his plan after he told the US president he was no longer committed to "not" liquidating the Palestinian leader who then was under siege and practically incarcerated in what remained of his Ramallah compound, most of which had already been destroyed by the Israelis in a lawless act of retribution against him. Arafat died in Paris on 11 November 2004 at age 75. ''To those knowledgeable about Israel's history since it became a state in 1948 and earlier, this revelation, if true, should come as no surprise. All Israeli governments have a long and disturbing record of conducting targeted assassinations in Israel and abroad as it suited them against all persons thought to be a threat to the Jewish state. From his earliest days in 1969 as Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Chairman and President, Arafat went from enemy to ally and back to enemy again under various Israeli governments depending on his willingness to deny his people their rights in service and pledging fealty to Israeli authority as he did in agreeing to the Oslo Accords, or Declaration of Principles (DOP), signed at a White House ceremony in September, 1993.'' According to Isranet News. Dan, who himself died recently from cancer, "traveled to Washington last month with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, and was thrilled beyond words when White House Press Secretary Tony Snow agreed to place a copy of Uri's new book on President Bush's Oval Office desk." Shunpiking Online & Agencies
JERUSALEM (31 December 2006) - ISRAELI Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres said Sunday that the execution of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was "justice for history," Israel Radio reported. Peres told the weekly cabinet meeting that Saddam, who had invited his own death, was a threat to life in the Middle East and the rest of the world, the reports said. Peres's remark was Israel's first official response to the hanging of Saddam Hussein. Both Israeli Prime Minister's Office and Foreign Ministry had been keeping a low profile and had not issued formal statements following the execution. Olmert's spokeswoman Miri Eisin, responding to a question said "Iraqis have made their choice, and we hope for the Iraqi people that they establish a stable country for Iraq and the Middle East." Israel's support for the legalized assassination of Saddam Hussein is aimed at giving itself impunity for its own infamous policy without, during these moments, drawing too much attention to it.
Deputy Defence Minister Ephraim Sneh called Mr Hussein "a man who paid some $20,000 to the families of suicide bombers in Israel during the most intense time of the intifada (Palestinian uprising) and who was preparing a nuclear weapon to use against us." An Arab member of Israeli parliament Ahmad Tibi described the hanging a "sadistic act and a mark of Cain on the American occupation [in Iraq]" and added that "even dictators deserve humanitarian treatment." The Palestinian governing party Hamas called Mr Hussein's hanging a "political assassination" that violated "all international laws". "Saddam Hussein was a prisoner of war," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum told AFP. "(His) hanging... is a political assassination that violates all international laws that are supposed to protect prisoners of war." several hamas leaders, including prime minister Haniyeh, have recently though unsuccessfuly targeted for assassinated by israel.
On 22 March 2004, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) assassinated Sheikh Ahmed Yassin with an airstrike, wheelchair-bound cleric and founder and head of Hamas, in a targeted attack in Gaza city. A few weeks later, another airstrike killed his successor, Abdel Aziz Rantisi. America was held responsible along with Israel. The opinion that President Yasser Arafat died from poison in France in November 2004 rather than natural causes has attained new credibility with the publication of Ariel Sharon: An Intimate Portrait by Sharon confidante Uri Dan which admits that Sharon assassinated Mr Araft with the foreknowledge of US President George W Bush. Today targeted killings are usually carried out by Israeli attack helicopters or unmanned drones firing missiles at cars, acting on intelligence information from agents and informers on the ground. According to Associated Press, the tactic has since been adopted by the U.S. and its allies in Afghanistan and Iraq.
CAIRO (31 December 2006) Xinhua - ARAB LEAGUE (AL) Secretary General Amr Moussa Sunday regretted the timing of the execution of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein as it took place on the first day of the Greater Bairam (Islam's feast of sacrifice), one of the most important holidays for Muslims. Egypt's official news agency MENA quoted Moussa as saying that the execution during these holy days is dissatisfactory. He warned of rebounds following Saddam's execution, explaining that many people consider the trial not fair and the timing of implementing the verdict not proper. Saddam's era had actually gone, but Iraq is still suffering from blood shedding regardless circumstances and changes, he added. However, he called for national reconciliation in post-Saddam Iraq, saying that the Iraqi reconciliation process should go on so as to get the country out of its ordeal, which destabilizes it and threatens the lives of the innocent. Saddam, born on April 28, 1937 and deposed in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, was hanged to death at dawn on Saturday for crimes against humanity. He was handed over on Friday to the Iraqi authorities from a U.S. camp near Baghdad International Airport where he had been held. Even the Jordanian parliament, a conservative and relatively pro-Western body with nary a Baathist among them, denounced the execution of Saddam Hussein. Shunpiking Online & Agencies
(31 December 2006) - EVEN the US appointed trial's first chief judge Rizkar Mohammed Amin, a Kurd , who later resigned under enormous pressure for allowing Iraqi president Saddam Hussien to speak in court, has declared his execution is illegal in Iraqi law: "The implementation of Saddam's execution during Eid al-adha is illegal according to chapter 9 of the tribunal law. Article 27 states that nobody, even the president (Jalal Talabani), may change rulings by the tribunal and the implementation of the sentence should not happen until 30 days after publication that the appeals court has upheld the tribunal verdict. The hanging during the Eid al-Adha period (also) contradicts Iraqi and Islamic custom. "Article 290 of the criminal code of 1971 (which was largely used in the Saddam trial) states that no verdict should implemented during the official holidays or religious festivals," he added. Justice Amin claimed that Iraqi law stipulates an execution must be carried out 30 days after the appeal court's decision on the sentencing, which in this case upheld the death sentence of Saddam. But in ratifying the death sentence on December 26, the appeals chamber insisted that the law stipulated the sentence be implemented within 30 days. Iraq is under US occupation and control. Saddam was arrested by US troops and detained in Camp Cropper, a US air base. US lawyers wrote the Special Iraqi Tribunal's statute, with Washington spending more than 100 million dollars on the tribunal and intervening directly in the course of the trial. The conviction was announced just in time to influence the November US elections, but the electorate wiser to the deepening quagmire in Iraq defeated US President George Bush's Republican party in the Congressional elections. Closes down TV stations and newspapers as political demonstrations spread through Iraq
Shunpiking Online & Agencies
BAGHDAD (7 January 2007) - IRAQI Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on 30 December called on followers of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein to reconsider their tactics and join the political process to include all Iraqis. Four days later he stated he would like to step down before the end of his four-year term, as an Iraqi Kurdish judge termed the hasty execution illegal because 30 days were supposed to pass after the appeal ruling. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Saturday threatened to cut off diplomatic relations with countries that criticized the execution of Saddam Hussein. Meanhwile Al-Hayat maintains that Baghdad looks half empty, with residents fearful to go out for fear of a guerrilla or militia attack. "I urge followers of the ousted regime to reconsider their stances as the door is still open to anyone who has no innocent blood on his hands, to help in rebuilding an Iraq for all Iraqis," Maliki said in a statement released Saturday just hours prior to Mr Hussein's execution. "We reject considering Saddam as representative of a specific Iraqi group or faction. The tyrant represents only his cruel self," the statement said. Meanwhile a senior Iraqi judge reportedly remarked that the execution of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was illegal because it violated a local law that forbids hangings during Eid ul Azha. Maliki described Mr Hussein's execution as a lesson for all ruling despots who commit crimes against their people, adding that persecution of citizens would lead them to the same dead end of their predecessors who violated human rights. The Iraqi justice has proved throughout the trial of Mr Hussein and his henchmen that it was competent and impartial, the statement said. Maliki also said that the security issue would now be completely handled by the government, calling on the security apparatus to live up to responsibilities that are grave through combat of the terrorists and their collaborators. "The dark page in the country's history should be folded and we have to look for the future," Maliki concluded. The Iraqi government closed the al-Sharqiya television station, headed by Saad al-Bazzaz, accusing it of instigating sectarian hatred during its coverage of the execution. A few reports have mentioned in passing that it has also closed down many Iraqi newspapers. Hundreds of demonstrators marched in Dur, near Tikrit on 1 January, protesting the execution of Saddam Hussein. Young men carried machine guns and fired them in the air, chanting "Muqtada, you coward," and "Hakim! Yellow-belly! Agent of the Americans!" They unveiled an enormous mosaic of Saddam Hussein inscribed, "The Martry-Hero." There was also a demonstration in the northern Baghdad district of Adhamiya, at which protesters shouted condemnations of Muqtada al-Sadr, according to al-Zaman. Some of those present at Saddam's execution shouted "Muqtada, Muqtada, Muqtada!" Saddam mocked them, asking if this was their sign of manliness. (Personally, I believe this is Saddam's reference to rumors in Iraq that Muqtada's wife left him, saying that he is actually gay. He is saying that chanting Muqtada's name is a sign that they are also not real men.) MENA, the Egyptian news agency, reports a demonstration of hundreds of persons on 2 January in Habhab near Baquba, protesting Saddam's execution. The demonstrators denounced the Iraqi and American governments. The Muslim Scholars' Association, blamed the USA and issued a statement that "The execution of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in the manner it took place was carried out at the behest of the occupier and some of its allies in and outside." Hussein's hanging was "a purely political act," and the fact that it happened while Iraq's Sunnis were marking the first day of Eid al-Adha, or feast of sacrifice, shows "the grudges (they harbour) and their quest to provoke". A 50 year-old man in Baghdad said "the Americans and Iranians meant to insult all Arabs by this execution." A Ministry of Interior official admitted to Reuters on 3 January that Saddam's execution was carried out by militiamen rather than by IM security guards, as planned. It is alleged that militiamen infiltrated the guards. That is, the earlier Sunni charges that Saddam was handed over to the Mahdi Army of Muqtada al-Sadr for execution were more or less correct. The first judge in the trial of Saddam, Rizgar Amin, a Kurd with no brief for the dead tyrant, complained Monday that his execution was illegal in Iraqi law. Meanhile, Al-Jazeera reported in Arabic: Commenting on the possible "ramifications" of executing Saddam Husayn, Al-Zubaydi said: "Undoubtedly, the US occupation in Iraq wanted the last moment of the execution to drag the Iraqis into what is worse after the failure to carry out the most dangerous conspiracy against the Iraqi people; namely, sectarian sedition." Al-Zubaydi added that the last footage of the execution was leaked to the media "according to a US plan that depends on the effects of the psychological war and propaganda that aim at achieving a clearly known objective." Al-Zubaydi said: "Obviously, the last footage was taken wilfully and carefully. In order to avert any legal responsibility concerning the media, they fabricated things to show that the footage was taken stealthily. Everybody knows that the Americans surround the chamber [of execution ], and cameras cannot be allowed in. So they invented the idea of using mobile phones although no violations can take place. However, this is a play designed to foment sedition. They prepared some people to arouse a certain sect to show that the execution was implemented on sectarian grounds. He continues to say: "I believe that this is the last attempt by the administration of the occupation to penetrate the Iraqi society." As for 'Operation Iraqi Freedom' said Riverbend; blogs from Baghdad, "There's no way to describe the loss we've experienced with this war and occupation. There is no compensation for the dense, black cloud of fear that hangs over the head of every Iraqi. Fear of the Americans in their tanks, fear of the police patrols in the black bandanas, fear of the Iraqi soldiers wearing their black masks at the checkpoints." CAIRO (30 December 2006) Xinhua - EGYPTIAN political experts on Saturday warned of more violence and clashes in Iraq in the wake of the execution of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, calling the move very "sensitive." Professor Hassan Nafaa, Chairman of Political Science department at Cairo University dismissed the trial as unfair in the first place in an interview with Xinhua. Mr Hussein's trial is an unfair trial because Mr Hussein should have been tried by an international court, and Mr Hussein was charged of crimes which were not the most important as he should have faced the crime of using chemical weapons against Iran, Prof Nafaa said. Furthermore, Prof Nafaa criticized the choice of the execution time as inappropriate, saying that the execution came as the Arab countries are celebrating one of their biggest religious festival - Eid al-Adha (or Greater Bairam), which may trigger anger across the region, especially the Arab world. Asked whether Mr Hussein's execution would help ease the violence in Iraq, Prof Nafaa said, "No, actually Saddam was out of politics in Iraq, and the resistance activities is gaining dynamics. The execution will push more people to more violence." Meanwhile, Mustafa Bakri, member of Egyptian Parliament and chief editor of the journal Al-Osboa in Cairo, told Xinhua that Mr Hussein's execution was very sensitive at this moment and would be unlikely to lead to more stability and security in Iraq as there would be stronger clashes between the Sunni and Shiite Muslims. The Iraqi government, which was thought to be cooperating with the United States, is expected to encounter more resistance, Bakri said, while warning about the possibility of unrest spreading over the whole region, especially among the Arab countries. Initially the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not release any statement on Mr Hussein's execution and government spokesmen refused to give any personal comment on this matter. Earlier in November, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak warned against carrying out the execution of Saddam, saying that hanging the former Iraqi leader would lead to more sectarian strife in Iraq.
Shunpiking Online & Agencies
CAIRO (6 January 2006) -- EGYPTIAN Foreign Ministry spokesman Alaa Hadidi voiced Egypt's regret for selection of the date to execute ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussein during a major religious holiday, the Egyptian news agency MENA reported. The spokesman said that Saddam was hanged on the first day of Eid al-Adha (Greater Bairam) and during hajj with no regard to sentiments of Muslims worldwide or the sanctity of the Muslim occasion which represents an opportunity for mercy and tolerance. Mr Hadidi hoped that Mr Hussein's execution would not further deteriorate the situation in the war-torn country. President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, one of Washington and Israel's closest allies in the Middle East, joined the growing chorus of criticism, saying pictures of the execution were "revolting and barbaric". In an interview with the Zionist newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, Mubarak said the timing was "unreasonable" and that he had written to Bush asking him to postpone the execution. The Iraqi government has said the US envoy asked for a two-week delay. "Then the pictures of the execution were revolting and barbaric, and I am not discussing here whether he deserved it or not. As for the trial, all experts in international law said it was an illegal trial because it was under occupation. "Also, there was a conspiracy to carry out the execution before the end of the year," Mubarak said. The hanging took place on Saturday, the first day of the Eidul Azha holiday. Shunpiking Online & Agencies
KUWAIT CITY (31 December 2006) - KUWAITI officials said Saturday that the execution of Saddam Hussein was "divine justice," in the first reaction to the hanging of the deposed former Iraqi leader, the Kuwaiti official News Agency (KUNA) reported. "Divine justice is exacted sooner or later," Kuwaiti Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Sheikh Sabah al-Khaled al-Hamad al-Sabah of the wealthy Gulf state was quoted as saying, adding the execution of Mr Hussein was an Iraqi (internal) affair handled by Iraqi judicial institutions. Noting that "Kuwait has suffered so much from Saddam's regime," the minister expressed hope for security and stability in Iraq. In addition, Speaker of the Kuwaiti National Assembly (parliament) Jassem Mohammad al-Kharafi said Saturday that Mr Hussein's death by execution is "fair and just." In a statement to KUNA, Mr al-Kharafi said, "divine justice is exacted no matter how long it takes." Al-Kharafi said that executing Mr Hussein would be a lesson for all those in position of authority who would think about committing similar crimes against their own people or neighboring countries. The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990 was justified on the basis that it was formerly a province of Iraq carved out by Europe for the sake of oil. According to reliable sources, the senior Bush administration encouraged Mr Hussein to undertake this adventure when it conveyed a highly ambiguous message through U.S. Ambassador April Gillespie, who told the Iraqis that inter-Arab differences were of no interest to the U.S. But when Iraq invaded Kuwait, the Bush administration built a global coalition that ousted the Iraqis from Kuwait and also ensured that the country was placed in the straitjacket of UN sanctions, crippling its economy and destroying its military strength. CAIRO, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- Libya announced Saturday a three-day official mourning for former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein after he was hung earlier in the day, according to reports reaching here. Meanwhile, all public celebrations for Eid al-Adha festival were cancelled and flags on government buildings flew at half-mast to mourn Mr Hussein. Libyan state media described Saddam Hussein as a "prisoner of war" and declared three days of national mourning over his execution. Qaddafi had said that constitutionally elected Saddam Hussein was still the President of Iraq. Saddam, born on April 28, 1937 and deposed in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, was executed by hanging at dawn on Saturday, the first day of four-day Muslim festival Eid al-Adha or Greater Bairam, for crimes against humanity. Dr. IS-HAQ AKINTOLA, Director, Muslim Rights
THE EXECUTION of Saddam Hussain, former Iraqi President, did not come as a surprise because we have noticed since the advent of America in Iraq that Saddam could not get a fair trial. We recall the incessant harassment of the defence lawyers and the latter's several complaints. Saddam's execution was too speedy, too harsh, too barbaric. The whole world could see the remote control button as it was pressed from the White House. The timing of the execution is embarrassing for Muslims all over the world. We were offered Saddam's neck for Id Al-Kabir ram. America still does not understand the Muslims and has little respect for them. MURIC is not inclined to blame the puppet regime of Al-Maliki or his kangaroo court. While we affirm that Saddam was never a keen Islamist and he had no dream of a Pan-Islamica during his reign, he was able to hold Iraq together in spite of that country's diversifications. We call attention to the hully-bully being witnessed in the city of Baghdad and the topsy-turvy in places like Barquba and Tikrit. Neither the majority Shiites nor the American invaders have learnt its lesson in Iraq. What Iraq needs is true reconciliation based on genuine spirit of forgiveness on both sides. Saddam's execution has messed up that chance and Iraq will never be the same again. The Shiite majority status is too slim for them to expect to silence the minority Sunnis. They have failed to do that in the past three years and Saddam's execution |
Eid Al-Adha immediately follows the last official rites of the Hajj pilgrimage and it marks the start of a festive period.
