Death Sentence for Saddam's Former Deputy

The Iraqi high court today ruled that Saddam Hussein's former vice-president should be hanged despite appeals from UN officials and international human rights groups.

Taha Yassin Ramadan was sentenced in November to life imprisonment for his role in the killing of 148 Shia men from the town of Dujail in the 1980s.

That decision was reversed by an appeals court that recommended he receive the death penalty and it referred the case back to the trial court for a final decision.

"God knows I didn't do anything wrong," Ramadan said shortly before judge Ali al-Kahachi sentenced him to death by hanging

Human rights groups had called on the Iraqi high tribunal not to impose the death penalty because of the lack of evidence linking him to the alleged crimes.

"The tribunal found Ramadan guilty without evidence linking him to the horrific crimes committed in Dujail," said Richard Dicker, director of the US group Human Rights Watch. "Ramadan was convicted in an unfair trial, and increasing his punishment from life imprisonment to death reeks of vengeance."

The Iraqi government has come under criticism from George Bush and others for the botched executions of Saddam and other senior Iraqi officials for the Dujail killings.

The execution of Saddam's half-brother, Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, last month took a macabre turn when he was decapitated by the hangman's noose after he drooped through the trapdoor.

The incident sparked accusations by Iraq's Sunnis that Mr Ibrahim had been deliberately decapitated in an act of revenge by the Iraqi government and as an insult to Sunni Muslims.

During Saddam's execution in December, the former dictator was jostled and insulted by members of the execution squad as he waited with the noose around his neck.