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WORLD REACTS ASIA & OCEANIA (5 Jan) Terms Saddam's execution "sad event". (4 Jan) Hanging will haunt Bush, reports The Toronto Star's Haroon Siddiqui. (1 Jan) 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. (31 Dec) Former Indian Supreme Court judge, V.R. Krishna Iyer, has condemned the hanging of the former Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein. Krishna Iyer, The Hindu (31 Dec) "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). The Hindu (30 Dec) 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? B. RAMAN AFRICA
(30 Dec 2006) Former president Kenneth Kaunda is terribly angered by the execution. (31 Dec) "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." SIFELANI TSIKO, Black Star News (30 and 18 Dec) 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. (14 May 04) 1,500 South Africans work for the Coalition Authority, not a few of whom are war criminals who had "confessed to killing blacks and terrorizing anti-apartheid activists, acts that can only be called crimes against humanity." LOUIS NEVAER, National Catholic Reporter MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA (8 Jan) 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 ... 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. FIRAS AL-ATRAQCHI* (5 Jan) The United States wanted to use Saddam Hussein's execution to stoke tensions between Shias and Sunnis. "America's method is to start sectarian differences," Ahmad Khatami told worshippers at Friday prayers in a sermon broadcast on state radio. (2 Jan) 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, who was sacrificed by his father, the prophet Abraham, to honour God. DAHR JAMAIL and ALI AL-FADHILY (2 Jan) 'Saddam Hussein was a prisoner of war'; violates 'all international laws'. Commentaries draw parallels between the assassination of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat by poison in France and the show trial of president Hussein in Baghdad, in which the common denominator is U.S. president George W. Bush. (31 Dec) 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. Editorial Commentary by SHEIKHA SAJIDA, www.aljazeera.com (31 Dec) Even the US appointed trial's first chief judge Rizkar Mohammed Amin, a Kurd , who later resigned under pressure, has declared the execution was illegal in Iraqi law: (30 Dec) But 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." The execution of the 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. Dr. IS-HAQ AKINTOLA EUROPE (10 Jan) A representative selection of tributes by British newspaper columnists to the way in which Saddam Hussein conducted himself in the face of death. For most, it was the first time they had ever had a good word to say about Saddam, or had even acknowledged his humanity. PAUL WOLF (3 Jan 07) 'Western diktat. The execution was carried out under the auspices of a foreign occupying power, and with a clear western message: we give ourselves the right to invade a sovereign Arab state and remove its leader because he offends us.' (30 Dec) 'The execution will not hold back the resistance of the Iraqi people to the foreign occupation, or against the collaborationist forces and all those who are trying to bring about a sectarian division of the country.' (2 Jan) British government found a simple way of welcoming the death penalty for Saddam Hussein while saying it opposes the death penalty. After former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was hanged, the government simply said both things, with no clear indication that the government cannot quite welcome what it opposes. SANJAY SURI AMERICAS (3 Jan 07) The execution of President Saddam Hussein is another crime that should be added to the growing list of crimes committed by the United States since it invaded and occupied Iraq in 2003. (28 Dec) The entire trial of Saddam Hussein by a kangaroo court under U.S. occupation is a new exercise in the politics of assassination perfected by the US since the Second World War as an instrument of criminalizing politics. TML Daily editorial (12 Jan) US President George W. Bush on 30 December hailed the execution of the toppled Iraqi President Saddam Hussein as "an important milestone" on the road to building an Iraqi democracy. Taking the high road, Americans demonstrated in numerous cities throughout the US, denouncing the execution of Hussein as a "political assassination" in the style of a Ku Klux Klan "lynch law." (5 Jan) Saddam Hussein and U.S. Politics of Assassination. Editorial Statement, Voice of Revolution
(2 Jan) "It is political foolishness, an illegal act in a country that has been driven to an internal conflict in which millions of citizens have been exiled or lost their lives.
(31 Dec) Like a blue-blood version of a Mob family with global reach, the Bushes have eliminated one more key witness to the important historical events that led the U.S. military into a bloody stalemate in Iraq and pushed the Middle East to the brink of calamity. ROBERT PARRY THE SHOW TRIALS: COMMENTARIES
(23 Jan 2007) - The lynchings of Saddam Hussein in Iraq on December 30 and of Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti and Awad Hamed al-Bandar on January 15 reveal the racism, brutality and impunity that have always been at the heart of U.S.-style democracy. (10 Jan 07) The legal arguments used by the US-sponsored Iraqi court to convict Saddam Hussein of crimes against humanity apply even more forcefully to those American leaders who ordered the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq. SIDDHARTH VARADARAJAN (3 Jan 07) Two days before Saddam was executed, Iraq's deputy justice minister, Bosho Ibrahim, told AP that executing him within 30 days of the Cassation Panel's decision to uphold his death sentence would violate Iraqi law. "The law does not say within 30 days," he said, "it says after the lapse of 30 days."KEVIN JON HELLER (28 Dec 06) The entire trial of Saddam Hussein by a kangaroo court under US occupation is a new exercise in the politics of assassination perfected by the US since the Second World War as an instrument of criminalizing politics. TML Daily editorial (8 Nov 06) No other outcome was ever possible. From the moment he was captured in his underground hideout, Saddam's fate was sealed. PAUL WOLFE, defence team attorney (8 Nov 06) As a member of the International Committee for the Defence of President Saddam Hussein, to oversee the trial of Saddam Hussein I would like to express my horror and disgust over the trial and sentencing of Saddam Hussein to death by hanging. TUN DR MAHATHIR bin MOHAMID (7 Nov 06) The arrest and trial of the former President of Iraq, not to speak of the death of 654,965 Iraqis who would otherwise have been alive, all flow from the U.S. government's illegal invasion of Iraq in March 2003. By any legal, political or moral yardstick, what President George W. Bush and his administration did in attacking Iraq constitutes the supreme international crime of aggression. SIDDHARTH VARADARAJAN (7 Nov 06) The court is a product and instrument of US aggression. PROF. JOSE MARIA SISON, International League of Peoples' Struggle (5 Nov 06) "We believe that the verdicts have been prepared beforehand, because what we have watched so far is nothing more than a theatrical play," chairman of the legal committee at the Jordanian lower house of parliament, Ghaleb al-Zoabi, said. (4 Nov 06) It has been reported that the Court will issue its judgment in the above-mentioned case on November 5, 2006. We want to state the following: UN human rights body declares Hussein detention and trial illegal as a violation of human rights law
(1 Nov 06) A UN expert on human rights law body declares the trial illegal because it violates the right to fair trial under international law. (24 Apr 06) Excerpts from "Iraq and the Laws of War" by Professor Francis A. Boyle (24 Apr 06) Hussein's trial is unfair and orchestrated by the US, and that the rule of law has been irreparably damaged as a result. CURTIS DOEBBLER (17 Mar 06) The farcical trial of Saddam Hussein staged by the Bush administration and its Iraqi puppets was thrown into chaos when the deposed Iraqi president took the witness stand. BILL VAN AUKEN (5 Dec 05) The trial of Saddam Hussein is the lynchpin of America's bid for global hegemony and the verdict is already in: America loses, writes IAN DOUGLAS
DOCUMENTS
On 8 January, prior to the executions of Barzan Ibrahim Al-Tikriti and Judge Awad Al-Bandar, Dr. Curis F.J. Doebbler, international human rights lawyer and Saddam Hussein's attorney, made an appeal to stop the executions on grounds of their illegality. (16 Jan 07) Interview by Huda al Saleh with Dr Najib al-Nuaimi, Former Qatari Justice Minister and member of Saddam Hussein's defense team.
(3 Jan 07) Excerpts from Chapter 25 of "One Hundred Hours with Fidel". "You have known your brother and leader as you have known your own family. He has not bowed down to the tyrants and remained a sword against them." An American Style (22 Nov 06) 298-page Opinion issued by the Iraqi High Tribunal Trial Chamber. The judgment and sentence was issued by the Iraqi High Tribunal Trial Chamber on 5 November 2006. The written opinion of the Tribunal was completed and posted on the Iraqi High Tribunal's website in Arabic on 22 November, and was provided to Defense Counsel in CD and hard copy on 23 November. Appeals were filed by Defense Counsel and the Prosecutor on December 3, 2006. The Iraqi Special Tribunal - a corruption of justice
(13 Sep 2006) By RAMSEY CLARK, former US Attorney General and CURTIS F. J DOEBBLER (Files in pdf format): The Iraqis don't wish war but if war is imposed upon them - if they are attacked and insulted - they will defend themselves.
A list of prominent foreign individuals whose assassination (or planning for same) the United States has been involved in since the end of the Second World War. WILLIAM BLUM
(29 Jan 03) This essay is the text of the paper "Why Iraq?" given to inaugurate the Halifax Political Forums on the theme "Peace & Nations in the 21st Century: Understanding the Causes of War." ISAAC SANEY
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