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Report: Saddam could escape execution
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-04-12 09:07
Saddam Hussein could avoid execution under a secret proposal by rebel leaders
that Iraq's new administration is "seriously considering", a senior government
source said.
The Daily Telegraph reports that a reprieve is understood to be among the
central demands of Sunni nationalists and former members of Saddam's Ba'ath
party who have reportedly begun negotiations with the government.
Officials say they are looking for a way of joining the political process
after January's election, which was boycotted by most of the Sunni minority.
Former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein listens
during his first appearance before a judge in July 2004. Two years after
the war, Iraq's deposed president Saddam Hussein sits in jail guarded by
US forces, with no date fixed for a trial although Iraqi officials insist
he will soon be in the dock. [AFP/file] | "We are
trying to reach out to the (rebels)," the source said. "We don't expect them to
stop fighting unconditionally. Sending Saddam to prison for the rest of his life
is not a huge price for us to pay, but it will save them a lot of face."
The official said those involved in the negotiations included senior members
of Saddam's Fedayeen group and the Jaish Mohammed, a grouping of former army
officers that operates under the guise of an organisation.
But it is unclear if those at the talks genuinely represent a majority of the
resistance groups. While a deal could represent an important step towards ending
the violence that has plagued postwar Iraq, a reprieve for Saddam would
infuriate many in the country. He is unlikely to come to trial before the end of
this year, but Jalal Talabani, Iraq's new president, has already begun to
prepare his people for a possible reprieve.
Asked about the fate of Saddam in an interview yesterday in the pan-Arab
newspaper Asharq al-Awsat, the Kurdish president stated his personal opposition
to a death sentence.
"I am among the lawyers who signed an international petition against the
death penalty around the world and it would be a problem for me if Iraqi courts
issued death sentences," he said.
Though Talabani's powers are largely ceremonial, he has the power, as the
head of a three-man presidential council, to commute death sentences. The two
vice presidents that make up the remainder of the council, Ghazi al Yawar, a
Sunni, and Adel Abdul Mahdi, a Shia, have yet to state their positions.
Though Talabani is regarded as a hero, many Kurds say they oppos any plans
not to execute Saddam.
"Anything but death for Saddam would be a travesty of justice," said Nawzad
Othman, a greengrocer whose brother was among 5,000 Kurds killed in Halabja in
1988. "...(he) cannot be allowed to live."
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