Talibani opposes death penalty for Saddam

The interim Iraqi president stressed his intention to refuse signing any death penalty against the toppled Iraqi President Saddam Hussein if he is convicted to committing war crimes.

In a radio interview broadcast on Monday, Jalal al-Talibani said he opposes death penalty in principle, adding "personally I will not sign it." The Iraqi president plans to leave the matter of signing the death penalty on Saddam to his deputies. He said "as you know Iraq's presidium is composed of three persons. Those three should take the decision, I might refrain from voting. I might leave for a vacation and leave the two take the decision." The new president, who is Kurdish, took the constitutional oath as the first democratically elected president in Iraq since 50 years by the beginning of this month. Talibani has two deputies one is Shiite Adel Abdul Mahdi and the Arab Sunni Ghazi al-Yawer.

Saddam and his 11 aides are facing the charge of committing war crimes in a special court in Iraq. Talibani said that most of the other members are in the new leadership and the majority of the Iraqis prefer to execute Saddam Hussein quickly. He continued "all of them support the death penalty against Saddam even before the court takes its decision." Talibani's administration will supervise drawing the draft of a new constitution by the fall of the mid of August and making elections in December. It is not expected Saddam's trial will be completed this year.