Certainly not justice

Only a court that was not subservient to the US could have delivered a fair verdict on Saddam Hussein

Truth is the main casualty of any trial that the US chooses to supervise. Either Saddam Hussein8217;s trial should have been taken up by the International Court of Justice or, as his defence lawyer argued, by the Iraqi people whom he represented. A court set up by the aggressors does not fit the bill. Saddam Hussein, therefore, cannot have been judged guilty unless he was tried by a court that was not subservient to Washington.

The execution came 56 days after a court convicted Hussein and sentenced him to death for his role in the killings of 148 Shiite Muslims from a town where assassins tried to kill the dictator in 1982. While the Shiites celebrated the 8220;tyrant8217;s execution8221;, voices in Iraq and from across the world condemned the hanging. Though US President Bush called the execution 8220;the kind of justice he denied the victims of his brutal regime8221;, Richard Dicker, director of Human Rights Watch8217;s International Justice Programme, maintained that 8220;Hussein was responsible for massive human rights violations, but that can8217;t justify giving him the death penalty, which is a cruel and inhuman punishment8221;.

The hanging in the early hours of the Saturday came at the start of Eid-al-Adha, the Islamic world8217;s main holiday, which marks the end of the Mecca pilgrimage, the haj, a day wrongly chosen by the US-backed judicial system. It is like executing a Christian leader on Christmas day, a step that is hard to conceive. Here was the degradation of the commander-in-chief of Iraq, a UN member state, which has unquestionably annoyed the entire Arab and the Islamic world as is obvious in the horrifying bomb explosion that followed the execution in a Shiite locality. In Baghdad8217;s streets, many chanted in support of their 8216;usurped champion of Iraq8217; and were of the opinion that there is really no evidence of his crimes. While some applauded Saddam Hussein8217;s public humiliation, others were deeply disturbed. His appearance on the screen established his power and aura to stir both revulsion and high regard in Iraq.

The execution will, possibly, trigger an even bloodier phase in Iraq8217;s bloody civil war. In his message to the Islamic world on his conviction, Saddam Hussein had pleaded for an end to sectarianism. He asked his compatriots to put their energies together and oust the infiltrators. Many are upset by the manner of his death. Many, too, are questioning the legitimacy of the Iraqi court and the refusal to accord him the status of a prisoner of war which, according to the Geneva Convention, is the fundamental right of every soldier.

It is well-known that Americans have no qualms about sending prisoners to the gallows. Bush, as Texas governor, had presided over 200 executions. After Guantanamo Bay, how could the world expect a fair trial for Saddam Hussein under US patronage? One thing can be said with certainty: hanging Saddam will not usher peace in Iraq.