As American and Iraqi officials planned to meet in Baghdad to set the hour of his death, Saddam's lawyers asked a US judge for a stay of execution.

The physical transfer of Saddam from US to Iraqi authorities was believed to be one of the last steps before he was to be hanged.

"We have agreed with the Americans that the handover will take place only a few minutes before he is executed," a senior Iraqi government official said on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media.

Al-Nueimi said US authorities were maintaining physical custody of Saddam to prevent him from being humiliated before his execution. He said the Americans also want to prevent the mutilation of his corpse, as has happened to other deposed Iraqi leaders.

"The Americans want him to be hanged respectfully," al-Nueimi said. If Saddam is humiliated publicly or his corpse ill-treated "that could cause an uprising and the Americans would be blamed," he said.

Saddam's lawyers issued a statement Friday calling on "everybody to do everything to stop this unfair execution." The statement also said the former president had been transferred from US custody, though American and Iraqi officials later denied that.

State television ran footage of the Saddam era's atrocities, including images of uniformed men placing a bomb next to a youth's chest and blowing him up in what looked like a desert, and handcuffed men being thrown from a high building.

"The Americans want him to be hanged respectfully.If Saddam is humiliated publicly or his corpse ill-treated,that could cause an uprising and the Americans would be blamed."

With US forces on high alert for a surge in violence, people registered to attend the hanging gathered in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone before they were to go to the execution site, the Iraqi official said.

（Agencies）

Vocabulary:

death penalty：死刑

execution：死刑（執行）

on condition of anonymity：不愿透漏姓名

handcuffed：上手銬的

（英語點津陳蓓編輯）

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