The prosecution demanded the death penalty for Saddam Hussein in its closing arguments on Monday in the 8-month trial, saying the former Iraqi leader showed “no mercy” in the killings of women and children in the 1980s Shi’ites massacre .After a three-week break, the defence will be next to sum up its case, then a panel of judges begin weighing the fate of Saddam and his seven co-defendants.A US official close to the court said the judges could take around 60 days in their deliberation, meaning verdicts would be announced in late September or early October. But even if Saddam is sentenced to execution by hanging, it could take months for the verdict to be carried out. The defendants have the right of appeal—and Saddam is due to go on a second trial for a military campaign against Iraqi Kurds in the 1980s that killed some 100,000 people.No date for that trial has been set, and Iraqi officials have not said what will happen if the appeals from the first trial case run out while the second is still going on.
