- Iran's reformist President Mohammad Khatami voiced his
opposition to the death penalty, adding that he did not even wish for the
execution of captured ex-Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
-
- "I don't like the death penalty, although if there
is one case where there should be an execution, the fairest case would
be for Saddam. But I would never wish for that," the president told
reporters Wednesday.
-
- "If there is a way for a criminal to have a way
out of it, I would not insist on his execution," he added, saying
"I hope that he will have a fair trial and that he will have a fair
verdict."
-
- Khatami's comments are believed to be the first time
the mid-ranking cleric has voiced his unease with the death penalty, which
is liberally handed down by the Islamic republic's hardline-controlled
judiciary.
-
- In Iran, the death penalty is applied to convicted murderers,
armed robbers, rapists, apostates and drug traffickers. In the past week
alone, the Iranian press have reported at least nine executions across
the country.
-
- According to Amnesty International, at least 113 people,
including long-term political prisoners, were executed during 2002. Many
of the punishments took place in public. That number looks set to be matched
this year.
-
- And the president's comments on Saddam's fate come despite
the fact that hundred of thousands of Iranians died as a result of the
1980 Iraqi invasion of Iran and the subsequent eight year war.
-
- But Khatami said Iran was "happy" over his
arrest.
-
- "The arrest of Saddam made the Iraqi people and
other nations who suffered damage from him happy, especially our nation
which had a war imposed on it and against which he used chemical weapons
and weapons of mass destruction," the president said.
-
- "Saddam's regime is an example of one of the most
bloodthirsty in history," he added, but then went on to express doubts
that Saddam's trial would shed full light on what kind of international
support he received.
-
- "Somehow I doubt that Saddam will get a completely
free and fair trial, because he would say things that would not please
the people who are nowadays against him," Khatami argued.
-
- Meanwhile, the powerful head of Iran's conservative judiciary,
Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, said he agreed to Saddam being tried
in Iraq, contradicting an appeal from the reformist government for an international
tribunal.
-
- Quoted by the official news agency IRNA, Shahroudi told
visiting Iraqi Oil Minister Ibrahim Bahr al-Ulum that "Saddam committed
crimes of the highest and worst order against the Iranian and Iraqi people
and should be tried in a court within Iraq."
-
- Official media reported Tuesday that Iran's judiciary
had written to UN chief Kofi Annan demanding that Saddam also be tried
for crimes against the Iranian people, and even arguing he should face
a court here.
-
- On Monday, the government demanded Saddam be tried before
an international court, and announced it was preparing a comprehensive
complaint.
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