Saddam Sentenced to Hang

Saddam Hussein, Iraq's deposed dictator, was today sentenced to death by hanging for crime against humanity.

Visibly shaken, Saddam shouted "God is great" as chief judge Raouf Abdul Rahman read out the court's verdict.

He was tried over the deaths of more than 148 Shia Muslim men and boys in reprisal for a 1982 assassination attempt on the Iraqi leader in the town of Dujail.

Two of Saddam's co-defendants were also sentenced to hang: his half-brother and former intelligence chief Barzan Ibrahim, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, head of the former revolutionary court. Former Iraqi vice president Taha Yassin Ramadan was sentenced to life in prison.

A death sentence or life imprisonment generates an automatic appeal, delaying any execution by months at least. Saddam has said he wants to face a military firing squad, not the hangman.

Following sentencing, he yelled: "Long live the people and death to their enemies. Long live the glorious nation, and death to its enemies!"

Clashes immediately broke out in north Baghdad's heavily Sunni Azamiya district where police battled men with machine guns. In Saddam's hometown of Tikrit, 1,000 people defied a curfew and carried pictures of the former leader through the streets.

A spokesman for the Shia-led Iraqi government said Saddam had got what he deserved. "This is the least that Saddam deserved because his crimes were great. No further punishment was possible," Ali al-Dabbagh told Reuters.

Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the most powerful Shia Islamist bloc in the government, praised the verdict but said now was the time for Iraqis to unite. "What happened to him is a lesson for everyone - all tyrants will get what they deserve at the hands of those who suffer injustice," told his party's television channel.

The foreign secretary, Margaret Beckett, said Saddam and his co-defendants had been "held to account" for their actions.

"Appalling crimes were committed by Saddam Hussein's regime. It is right that those accused of such crimes against the Iraqi people should face Iraqi justice," she said in a statement.

The US ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, said the death sentence was "an important milestone" towards building a free society in Iraq, but others have questioned the fairness of the trial.

Malcolm Smart, Amnesty's director of the Middle East and North Africa, said the trial was deeply flawed.

"This trial should have been a major contribution towards establishing justice and the rule of law in Iraq, and in ensuring truth and accountability for the massive human rights violations perpetrated by
Saddam Hussein's rule.

"In practice, it has been a shabby affair, marred by serious flaws that call into question the capacity of the tribunal, as currently established, to administer justice fairly, in conformity with international standards."

The trial was characterised by angry exchanges between the judges, defendants and their defence teams. Before today's session began, one of Saddam's lawyers, former US attorney general Ramsey Clark, was ejected from the courtroom after handing the judge a memorandum in which he called the Saddam trial a travesty.

Saddam also initially refused chief judge Raouf Adbul-Rahman's order to rise. Two bailiffs lifted the former leader to his feet and he remained standing through the sentencing.