The death penalty
World reaction to the
execution of Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein, the former
dictator of Iraq, was executed by hanging just before 6 AM local time on
Saturday DEC-30 (10 PM Friday ET) . He had been responsible for the torture and
deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi citizens.
At his first trial, he was found guilty of ordering the mass execution of 148
men and boys in the Kurdish village of Dujail located about 40 miles north of
Baghdad in 1982. This was in response to an attack of his convoy by a small
group of Kurds. It appears that this atrocity was chosen as the initial trial
because of "the availability of documents and witnesses willing to testify."
He has been also charged with other crimes:
||The genocide which exterminated thousands of Kurds during a poison gas
attack on the Kurdish village of Halabja in 1988.
||The invasion of Kuwait in 1990.
||The suppression of a Shia uprising in the south of Iraq during 1991.
These incidents were to be considered during a second trial. However, that
trial will never take place.
The execution was held on the
morning of Eid-Ul-Adha (a.k.a.
the Feast of
Sacrifice, or the Day of Sacrifice). This is a world-wide celebration
that is observed after the
Hajj -- the annual pilgrimage by Muslims to Makkah (Mecca) in Saudi Arabia.
Executing him during the Feast of Sacrifice in Iraq is analogous to
implementing an execution order on Christmas in a predominately Christian
World reaction to the execution:
||President Bush said that the execution was "a milestone on the road
to Iraqi democracy."
||It appears that as of 2007-JAN-06, no Canadian politician has commented
on the execution.
||Tarek Fatah of the Muslim Canadian Congress wrote: "...
Tarek Fatah noted that Saddam was executed after having been found guilty of
This essay is currently being expanded
References and footnotes:
The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above
essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.
Rory Carroll, "Saddam Trial to Open with Village Massacre," The
Guardian, 2005-JUN-07, at:
Tarek Fatah, "Why the rush to execute Saddam?" Toronto Star,
"World reaction to Hussein's death mixed," CBC News, 2006-DEC-30, at:
Harry Liberman, "Shiites will find more opportunities for revenge,"
Toronto Star, 2007-JAN-04, at: