Reactions to the Saddam Verdict, Sentence

IRAQI PRIME MINISTER NOURI MALIKI

The justice handed out to him is a response to the call from thousands of sons and sisters of those sentenced and executed by Saddam...

Maybe this will help alleviate the pain of the widows and the orphans and those who have been ordered to bury their loved ones in secrecy, and those who have been forced to suppress their feelings and suffering, and those who have paid at the hands of torturers, and those who have been deprived of the basic human rights, like education and profession.

IRAQI PRESIDENT JALAL TALABANI

I think the trial was fair. Those people had the full right to say what they intended.

I must respect the independence of the Iraqi judiciary. Until the end I must be silent... because my comments could affect the situation.

IRAQI PARLIAMENT DEPUTY SPEAKER KHALID AL-ATTIYAH

We expected the maximum penalty against the criminal Saddam Hussein and his henchmen because they committed horrible crimes against the Iraqi people, the Arabs, Muslims and the entire international community.

Because of this, we are not surprised at this verdict, quite the contrary; this verdict was a long time in coming.

IRAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN MOHAMMAD ALI HOSSEINI

The Islamic republic of Iran welcomes the death sentence.

Even if Saddam and his accomplices are the agents who carried out these crimes, we cannot forget the Western protectors of Saddam who by supporting him prepared the ground for the execution of his crimes.

KONSTANTIN KOSACHEV, FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN OF RUSSIAN DUMA

Today's ruling was quite predictable, given the attitudes to Saddam Hussein's regime that exist both in and beyond Iraqi society.

The punishment was deliberately chosen to be the harshest. It is another matter that the death sentence will clearly split Iraqi society still further.

On the other hand, I think that the death sentence on Saddam Hussein is unlikely to be carried out. It will be stopped one way or another, either at the level of the Iraqi president or by other means.

This is more of a moral ruling, revenge that modern Iraq is taking on the Saddam Hussein regime.

FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER PHILIPPE DOUSTE-BLAZY

France notes the sentence made by the Iraqi court at the end of the Saddam Hussein trial. This decision belongs to the Iraqi people.

In the climate of violence Iraq is currently experiencing, I hope this decision will not lead to new tensions and that the Iraqis will show restraint, whatever community they belong to.

IRISH FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTRY

The minister welcomes the end of this long legal process.

Ireland and its EU partners have made it clear in the past to Iraqi authorities that we are opposed to courts applying the death sentence.

Ireland is also opposed to it being applied as a penalty in this case.

SPANISH PRIME MINISTER JOSE LUIS RODRIGUEZ ZAPATERO

Saddam Hussein, like any other citizen or political leader, has to answer for his actions, for what he has done in his government task.

It is well known that for a long time the EU has not been in favour of the death penalty. Obviously it is a penalty which is not provided for in any legal system in the EU or, of course, in our country.

MALCOLM SMART, DIRECTOR OF AMNESTY INTERATIONAL'S MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA PROGRAMME

Obviously we deplore the verdict of the death penalty against Saddam and one of his co-accused.

We don't consider it was a fair process. The court was not impartial. There were not adequate steps taken to protect the security of defence lawyers and witnesses...

Every individual has a right to a fair trial, even people accused of the crimes of the magnitude that Saddam Hussein faced, and this has not been a fair trial.

SOURCE: BBC

I am amazed at the number of International dignitaries whose comments seem to express more sympathy for Saddam Hussein in light of his death penalty than they do to the million of people whom Saddam sentenced to death with not even a chance at justice. Saddam has had his day in court. He was tried by a jury of his peers (hopefully, he doesn't really have any peers) and sentenced by a judge of his own land. Was the trial completely fair? Maybe not. Were the judge and jury impartial? Again, maybe not. But if you go into a courtroom prepared to convict a known murdered, and you come out of the courtroom having convicted a known murderer, then justice has been served, whether the trial was fair and impartial or not.

The world at large knows that Saddam Hussein and his regime was a band of murderous thugs. It doesn't take an impartial trial to determine that fact. There was only one true purpose of this trial: to mete out justice. That purpose has been accomplished.

Joe