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Iraq cabinet urges presidency council to ratify Saddam officials' death sentences

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] The Iraqi Cabinet urged the Presidency Council Tuesday to ratify death sentences against three former Saddam Hussein officials. The sentences have been delayed because two of the members, President Jalal Talabani and Vice-President Tareq al-Hashemi, have opposed the sentences of Hashim al-Taie and Hussein Rashid Mohammed, alleging that both men's roles in the 1988 Anfal campaign against ethnic Kurds were coerced on threats of death by Saddam Hussein. In accordance with Iraqi law, all three members of the Iraqi Presidential Council must approve the measures. The death sentences and convictions of al-Taie, Mohammed, and Hassan al-Majid, known as "Chemical Ali", were upheld by the Appeals Chamber of the Iraqi High Tribunal in September 2007 on charges of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity in connection to the 1988 Anfal campaign. "Chemical Ali" has received two other death sentences in connection with the killings of rioting protesters in Baghdad and Amarah following the alleged assassination of a prominent Shiite cleric, and for his involvement in the repression of Shiite protesters in southern Iraq following the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Earlier this month, he was also sentenced to fifteen years for his involvement in the 1992 murders of 42 merchants accused of price-gouging during a period of UN-imposed sanctions. Earlier this week, Amnesty International (AI) urged Iraq to commute the 128 death sentences that have ratified and to reinstate a death penalty moratorium, alleging that "Iraqi trials do not always conform to international fair trial standards."

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on March 18, 2009 (boomark / email).