Death sentence for Saddam

Saddam Hussein has been sentenced to death by a US-sponsored Iraqi court which found him guilty today. He was accused of crimes against humanity in the 1982 killings of 148 townspeople at Dujail.

In this case Saddam Hussein was charged with the arrest, killing, torture and deportation of 399 men women and children. In court today, the ousted president, visibly shaken, shouted out "Allahu Akbar!" and "Long live the nation!.

Saddam's deputy and former vice president Taha Yassin Ramadan was also sentenced to life in prison as verdicts were issued in the deposed Iraqi leader's trial for crimes against humanity.

The Former chief judge in Saddam's Revolutionary Court , Awad Hamed Al-Bander has also been sentenced to death by hanging. Bander was accused of organising show trials that often led to summary executions. Bander was the judge in charge of trying many of the more than 140 Shi'ite men killed after an attempt to assassinate Saddam.

A former Baath Party official, Mohammed Azawi Ali, was acquitted and immediately freed for lack of evidence. Three other party officials, including a father and son, were sentenced to up to 15 years in prison for torture and premeditated murder.

Anticipating a violent fallout to the verdict, the Iraqi government has imposed an indefinite curfew and has cancelled army leave fearing that the historic trial verdict sentencing Saddam to death may trigger fresh sectarian bloodletting.

The Baghdad airport has been shut down with immediate effect. Clashes immediately broke out in north Baghdad's heavily Sunni Azamiyah district where police were battling men with machine guns. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who called for Saddam to be executed quickly, had said earlier that Saddam should get "what he deserves" for killing, torturing or jailing hundreds of Shi'ite muslims.


Legal options open before the Iraqi dictator

• He can appeal against the verdict to a nine-member appeals chamber.
• Since the verdict is death an appeal is automatic even if defence counsel does not submit one.
• Any sentence must be carried out within 30 days of all appeals being exhausted. There is no statute of limitation as to how long the appellate court can take on ruling.
• The presidential council, made up of Iraq's president and two vice presidents, has to ratify any death sentence before it is carried out. The current president is an ethnic Kurd and the two vice presidents are a Shi'ite and a Sunni Arab.