BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The Iraqi High Tribunal on Sunday sentenced a combative Saddam Hussein and two other defendants to death by hanging for a brutal crackdown in 1982 in the Shiite town of Dujail.

 

Iraqis under a curfew in Baghdad spilled out into the streets in celebration of the verdict, news footage showed. But protests were held in Saddam Hussein's hometown.

 

Along with Hussein, his half-brother and former intelligence chief Barzan Hassan, and former chief judge of the Revolutionary Court Awad Bandar also got death.

 

Taha Yassin Ramadan, a former vice president of Iraq, was sentenced to life in prison.

 

"The verdict was predetermined and has nothing to do with court proceedings," Ramadan said.

 

Mohammed Azzawi Ali, a former Dujail Baath Party official, was acquitted because of insufficient evidence against him, the court said.

 

The three others -- Abdullah Kadhem Ruwaid, Ali Dayem Ali, and Misher Abdullah Ruwaid -- were sentenced to 15 years each.

 

There will be automatic appeals for the four who were sentenced to death and life in prison.

 

The 50-minute session was dramatic. Hussein entered with a Quran in hand, as he had in the past. He began screaming Allahu Akhbar -- God is great -- as the verdict and sentencing was read.

 

He also argued with the chief judge and shouted, "Damn you and your court."

 

As the judge ordered him taken away, Hussein said, "Don't push me, boy."

 

Bandar also screamed Allahu Akhbar as he was taken out of court.

 

Defense attorney Ramsey Clark, a former U.S. attorney general, was ousted by judges early in the session. The court asked him to leave, saying he had come here from the United States to mock the Iraqi people and the court.

 

Another defense attorney, Ziad al-Najdawi, angrily told reporters as he left the courtroom, "That's the American justice."

 

The Dujail case stemmed from a crackdown against townspeople after a 1982 assassination attempt against Hussein in the town. The crackdown involved the ordered executions of 148 males.

 

Before Sunday's verdicts were announced, a curfew was imposed in Baghdad and two provinces -- Diyala and Salaheddin -- with large Sunni populations ahead of expected violence.

 

Predominantly Shiite and Kurdish provinces were not under curfew.

 

About 2,000 protesters in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit on Sunday defied the curfew and demonstrated in support of the former leader.

 

A witness said the protesters carried posters of the former president and were shooting into the air.

 

The numbers of demonstrators grew after the sentence was announced. A complete movement ban -- both people and vehicles -- was imposed on Sunday in the provinces of Baghdad, Diyala and Salaheddin -- where Tikrit is located.

 

The Baghdad International Airport also shut down until further notice.

 

This verdicts come nearly three years after U.S.-led forces plucked Hussein out of hiding and just a few days before U.S. midterm elections, with the Iraqi war at center stage.

 

The U.S. ambassador in Iraq praised the verdicts and sentencing as "an important milestone for Iraq."

 

"Although the Iraqis may face difficult days in the coming weeks, closing the book on Saddam and his regime is an opportunity to unite and build a better future," Zalmay Khalilzad said in a statement issued shortly after the verdicts were rendered.

 

 

Outbursts and walkouts

The Dujail trial, the first in what is a series of proceedings against former regime officials, began October 19, 2005, and ended July 27. It was a turbulent courtroom battle witnessed on TV across the globe.

 

It was marked by outbursts and harangues from Hussein and his co-defendants, lawyer walkouts, much-criticized court actions, and complaints from lawyers about poor security. There were grave concerns about security for legal teams and their families; three defense lawyers were killed.

 

Witness testimony and prosecutors got their case across, however. According to court documents, the military, political and security apparatus in Iraq and Dujail killed, arrested, detained and tortured men, women and children in the town. Homes were demolished and orchards were razed.

 

The Revolutionary Court sentenced 148 males to death, with Saddam's signature ratifying the order.

 

But there were other deaths as well -- nine people were killed during the destruction of orchards, and many of the 399 people who had been detained were either killed or remain missing.

 

Hussein, Hassan and Ramadan were charged with willful killing, deportation or forcible transfer of population; imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental norms of law; torture; enforced disappearance of persons, and other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering; or serious injury to the body or to the mental or physical health.

 

Bandar was charged with willful killing by issuing the death sentences for the 148 people.

 

The remaining defendants were lower-level Baath Party officials from Dujail, who were charged with informing on residents who later died in prison or were sentenced to death.

 

Hussein is also in the middle of another trial involving the 1988 Anfal campaign, the government offensive in the country's Kurdish region. Hussein is charged in that case with genocide.

When does he die?

It's about time they finally decided Saddam should die. It's also nice they're doing it old school, no painless lethal injection for Saddam.

I would think within 60 days.

 

Appeal within 10 days.

Execution within 30 days of the end of the Appeal.

I'd watch.

Me too. Hang him high!

revenge is a dish best served cold

i feel kind of sick for saying this, but i hope we can watch this live. kind of like how in the old days the town would gather to watch a hanging. at the same time i know we never will etc...

 

The scary thing about this is that I was up at 4:00am and I found out on a NBC alert that came on during a classic SNL...meanwhile Bush had to be woken up at 6:00am, so I knew about this a full 2 hours beforehand...wierd.

 

and those tapes, as they came out, were creepy.

Good news. I wish it hadn't taken so long for him to be tried in the first place.

I'd watch.

They should have it televised and have it be hosted by Bob Barker or something.

I really doubt this will be a painful death. The nooses usually instantly break the neck of the person and they're dead before they realize they fell.

 

If the noose is not properly prepared though, he could strangle to death or possibly even get decapitated. That said, I don't give a damn what happens to him. My life won't change if he's dead.

They should have it televised and have it be hosted by Bob Barker or something.

Didnt he just retire?

 

If so that would make a awsome retirment party.

 

"Saddam Hussein Come on Downnnnnnn!!!" *insert price is right jingle

They should have it televised and have it be hosted by Bob Barker or something.

Didnt he just retire?

 

If so that would make a awsome retirment party.

 

"Saddam Hussein Come on Downnnnnnn!!!" *insert price is right jingle

:lol :lol :lol ...sounds like a plan

Saddam has at the most 30 days to live. His appeal was rejected and apparently he could be dead in days...

 

 

 

Iraq prepares for rapid Saddam execution

Dec 27 5:08 AM US/EasternIraq was preping for the rapid execution of former dictator Saddam Hussein, with the US-backed government eager to bring his chapter in the country's bloody history to an end.

 

Justice Minister Hashem al-Shibli said Wednesday the sentence for crimes against humanity -- upheld by am Iraqi appeal court on Tuesday -- would be sent to the presidency for approval while the prison service prepares to hang him.

 

The process will get underway rapidly, he said, but the formality of executing the ousted dictator could be delayed by the onset of the four-day Eid al-Adha holiday, which is due to start at the end of the week.

 

"There will be no amnesty in this case. Once we get the decree, we shall prepare to take action," Shibli told AFP, adding however: "You know there'll be the Eid. It could take some time because of the holiday.

 

"The decree passed by the court of appeal shall be passed to the presidency and a presidential decree shall be sent to the General Prisons Directorate for the purpose of implementing the death sentence," he said. Saddam and two officials of his regime were convicted of crimes against humanity on November 5, after a court heard they ordered the deaths of 148 Shiite men from the village of Dujail in an act of collective punishment. On Tuesday, a panel of appeal court judges confirmed the sentences, in what was a binding and final judgement. Authorities now have 30 days within which to carry out the execution orders.

The Eid al-Adha, or Feast of Sacrifice, follows the annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. The precise dates of the holiday can vary in different regions, but this year it is expected to begin on or around December 30.

Announcing the verdict Tuesday, appeal court judge Arif Shaheen said: "As from tomorrow the sentence could be carried out at any time."

Iraq's President Jalal Talabani has a personal moral objection to the use of the death penalty, but has in the past signalled that he will step aside and allow his vice presidents to rubber stamp the verdict.

In the past, officials from Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government have said they will not hesitate to carry out the sentence, and that he and his fellow convicts will be hanged within days or weeks of the decision.

The White House said the verdict marked "a milestone for Iraqi people's efforts to replace the rule of a tyrant with the rule of law."

Key US ally Britain opposes capital punishment on principle, but said the decision on Saddam's execution "is one for the Iraqi authorities".

Saddam's original conviction on November 5 inspired conflicting emotions in Iraq, a country shattered by violence between warring political and religious factions since his fall from power.

In November, the Shiite majority celebrated and the Sunni minority protested the verdict, but there was little sign of public reaction to Wednesday's confirmation of the execution order, which was widely expected.

Saddam ruled Iraq with an iron first between 1979 and March 2003, when he was overthrown by a US-led invasion force. After his capture nine months later he was brought before the Iraqi High Tribunal in Baghdad to face trial.

Nevertheless Human Rights Watch urged the Iraqi government not to execute Saddam, like other international rights groups describing the trial convicting him of crimes against humanity as "deeply flawed".

Imposing the death penalty, indefensible in any case, is especially wrong after such unfair proceedings," said Richard Dicker, director of Human Rights Watch's international justice programme.

raq has descended into chaos since the 2003 US-led invasion to oust Saddam as part of President George W. Bush's global "war on terror" following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

In the latest attack, three Iraqi soldiers were killed Wednesday when a roadside bomb exploded alongside their patrol on the road between Suwaira and Jabala, in the Shiite south, military and medical sources said.

 

 

Link

*pumped*

Saddam was never a threat to us, so I don't care.

 

I guess it's good, on some level, all the folks he mass-murdered and their families are getting theirs.

 

I don't understand people getting all excited; but I can guess they're products of the nightly news war-machine.

 

Another loveable dictator/former ally is going down. And he was funny! Those proceeding outbursts rocked more than a Michael Richards standup routine. It's a shame.

Why anyone would want to see a hanging, beats me...

Why anyone would want to see a hanging, beats me...

I'd love too see Osama being hung.