2007/01/08
UN Chief Ban Ki-moon Wants Iraq to Delay Executions (Update1)
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=advHXCufRTQY&refer=home
By Bill Varner
Jan. 8 (Bloomberg) -- The Iraqi government should delay the executions of the two men sentenced to death along with former dictator Saddam Hussein for the 1982 killings of Shiite Muslims, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said.
Ban ``strongly urged'' Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government to stay the executions, according to a statement released in New York.
A Jan. 6 letter to Iraqi Ambassador Hamid al-Bayati also backs the position taken by Louise Arbour, the UN's high commissioner for human rights, that Iraq shouldn't have hanged Hussein and should delay the executions of Awad Hamed al-Bandar and Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti.
Hussein, 69, was executed on Dec. 30. Video footage of the former leader being taunted by witnesses and hung in mid-prayer provoked international criticism and outrage among Iraq's Sunnis, Hussein's base of support.
Al-Tikriti, Hussein's half-brother, was Iraq's intelligence chief at the time of the killings of 148 people in the village of Dujail. Al-Bandar issued death sentences to Dujail residents as the head of a court. The two men were sentenced to death by the Iraqi High Tribunal on Nov. 5.
Ban's statement followed a similar appeal by New York-based Human Rights Watch, which said in a statement that executing the two men would be a ``cruel and inhuman punishment that will only drag a deeply flawed process into even greater disrepute.''
Feisal al-Istrabadi, Iraqi's deputy UN ambassador, said his government would determine when to go ahead with the executions.
``It is a domestic matter for the government of Iraq,'' al- Istrabadi said. ``These men had a fair and transparent trial and had a richly deserved sentence passed on them.''
Ban, Penalty
Ban declined to criticize the execution of Hussein in his first news conference after taking the office of secretary- general on Jan. 1. He said it was up to each country that belongs to the UN to determine whether to use the death penalty.
Al-Maliki has refused to accept criticisms of the manner of Hussein's execution, a position that is reminiscent of statements made by Hussein's Baathist government, according to Human Rights Watch.
The second trial dealing with allegations against Hussein and his officials sat today for the first session since his execution. There was an empty black leather chair in the space formerly taken by Hussein in pictures aired on Arabic-language television channels.
The prosecution says six defendants, including Ali Hassan al-Majid, also known as ``Chemical Ali'' for his alleged use of gas attacks, ordered the ``Anfal'' military campaign in the late 1980s that killed 182,000 Kurds in northern Iraq.
To contact the reporter on this story: Bill Varner in United Nations at wvarner@bloomberg.net . Last Updated: January 8, 2007 14:47 EST
By Bill Varner
Jan. 8 (Bloomberg) -- The Iraqi government should delay the executions of the two men sentenced to death along with former dictator Saddam Hussein for the 1982 killings of Shiite Muslims, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said.
Ban ``strongly urged'' Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government to stay the executions, according to a statement released in New York.
A Jan. 6 letter to Iraqi Ambassador Hamid al-Bayati also backs the position taken by Louise Arbour, the UN's high commissioner for human rights, that Iraq shouldn't have hanged Hussein and should delay the executions of Awad Hamed al-Bandar and Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti.
Hussein, 69, was executed on Dec. 30. Video footage of the former leader being taunted by witnesses and hung in mid-prayer provoked international criticism and outrage among Iraq's Sunnis, Hussein's base of support.
Al-Tikriti, Hussein's half-brother, was Iraq's intelligence chief at the time of the killings of 148 people in the village of Dujail. Al-Bandar issued death sentences to Dujail residents as the head of a court. The two men were sentenced to death by the Iraqi High Tribunal on Nov. 5.
Ban's statement followed a similar appeal by New York-based Human Rights Watch, which said in a statement that executing the two men would be a ``cruel and inhuman punishment that will only drag a deeply flawed process into even greater disrepute.''
Feisal al-Istrabadi, Iraqi's deputy UN ambassador, said his government would determine when to go ahead with the executions.
``It is a domestic matter for the government of Iraq,'' al- Istrabadi said. ``These men had a fair and transparent trial and had a richly deserved sentence passed on them.''
Ban, Penalty
Ban declined to criticize the execution of Hussein in his first news conference after taking the office of secretary- general on Jan. 1. He said it was up to each country that belongs to the UN to determine whether to use the death penalty.
Al-Maliki has refused to accept criticisms of the manner of Hussein's execution, a position that is reminiscent of statements made by Hussein's Baathist government, according to Human Rights Watch.
The second trial dealing with allegations against Hussein and his officials sat today for the first session since his execution. There was an empty black leather chair in the space formerly taken by Hussein in pictures aired on Arabic-language television channels.
The prosecution says six defendants, including Ali Hassan al-Majid, also known as ``Chemical Ali'' for his alleged use of gas attacks, ordered the ``Anfal'' military campaign in the late 1980s that killed 182,000 Kurds in northern Iraq.
To contact the reporter on this story: Bill Varner in United Nations at wvarner@bloomberg.net . Last Updated: January 8, 2007 14:47 EST
# posted by hahns @ 11:52 PM 
