Another Execution In Iraq

4th Member Of Ousted Regime To Be Executed In Killings Of Shiites In Dujail

(AP)  Saddam Hussein's former deputy was hanged before dawn Tuesday for the killings of 148 Shiites, an official with the prime minister's office said.

Taha Yassin Ramadan, who was Saddam's vice president when the regime was ousted four years ago, was the fourth man to be executed in the killings of 148 Shiites following a 1982 assassination attempt against the former leader in the city of Dujail.

The official, who witnessed the hanging but spoke on condition of anonymity because an official announcement had not been made, said precautions were taken to prevent a repeat of what happened to Saddam's half brother Barzan Ibrahim, who was decapitated on the gallows.

Ramadan was weighed before the hanging and the length of the rope was chosen accordingly, the official said.

The executions have outraged Iraqi Sunnis and caused concern among international human rights groups, which have appealed for Ramadan's life.

Ramadan was convicted in November of murder, forced deportation and torture and sentenced to life in prison. A month later, the appeals court said the sentence was too lenient, and returned his case to the High Tribunal, demanding he be sentenced to death. The court agreed to turn it to a death sentence.

Ramadan has maintained his innocence, saying his duties were limited to economic affairs, not security issues. Human Rights Watch and the International Center for Transitional Justice have said the evidence against him is insufficient for the death penalty.

Saddam was executed on Dec. 30 for his role in the killings. Two of his co-defendants in the Dujail case — his half brother and former intelligence chief Barzan Ibrahim, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, former head of Iraq's Revolutionary Court — were executed in January.

Saddam's death was recorded by a cell phone video camera and posted on the Internet, and much of the Sunni Arab world was infuriated by the mockery he faced by onlookers in the moments before his hanging. Ibrahim was inadvertently decapitated when he was hanged, also causing a furor.

Saddam's regime was predominantly Sunni and many members of the sect have protested the executions on the grounds they are politically motivated by the newly empowered Shiite majority in Iraq. International human rights groups have, by and large, protested that the trial which found the men guilty did not provide them with due legal process.

[phil-in-fin]

Still, I would much rather see him rot in jail as a sickly old man, cancer riddled, yellowed from the lack of sunlight, alone ...

Hanging this guy, it just seems to be so humane ...

[downtowner97]

Saddam ruled the way he did so zealots like Maliki and Moqtada Al Sadr couldn't rise up and do exactly what they're doing now. The last thing Saddam heard before the trap door opened was "Muqtada, Muqtada, Muq...". When he heard that, he knew we had lost the war.

Now we are teaching the zealots our military tactics and arming and feeding them and giving them cars and uniforms.

As for whether to hang them? That just seems to be the Muslim version of term limits.

[CBSTV]

This killing is yet another depraved act of humanity.

[thenamesdave]

I'm 100% against the war, but... let him twist.

[wogerwabbit]

Yes, hang all war criminals... ALL of them!