Pleas for Saddam
SANA’A, Dec. 29 (Saba)-Prime Minister Abdul-Qadar Ba-Jammal sent on Friday a letter to President of United States George W. Bush, urging him to intervene to stop execution against former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. In his letter, Ba-Jammal said that the relation of
two countries bases on honesty and exchangeable respect toward developments in the international and regional arenas.
“Yemen is very worry about current developments in Iraq and bloody conflicts which give impression of unrest and unsafe future for the Iraqi people,the letter read.
All those happened within existence of occupation of the alliance forces that United States shoulders a big share of responsibility to do its role in settling justice and peace, especially, after the Iraqi court upheld death penalty against former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein who was on trial in existence of occupation, internal
conflicts and miserable situationthat doubt about honesty and justice of the court. After enlightening on viewpoints of international community and organizationsof human rights, Yemeni government asks you to intervene to prevent carrying out the execution which might lead to increase violence and internal conflict as well as worsen suffering of the Iraqi people, he said.
“We are agreed with other international organizations that the sentence is not solution and it impact negatively on United States in Arab and Islamic nations.”He appreciated honest efforts to re-evaluating situation in Iraq, renewing cooperation between Yemen and United States in all fields to realize peaceand stability in the region.
Saddam’s daughter requests his burial in Yemen.
IHT: Bajammal wrote to President George W. Bush that Saddam’s execution would “increase the sectarian violence” in Iraq, Saba reported.
In a letter to President Jalal Talabani, Bajammal urged the Iraqi leader to halt the execution and employ his “wisdom and political prudence to create a climate that helps heal the wounds” in the country.
It was not clear why Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh did not write the letters. Saleh maintained close ties with Saddam and was among the few Arab leaders who supported Saddam during the 1991 Gulf crisis.
Yemen is believed to host thousands of Baath Party members and exiled officials of Saddam’s regime.
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi made an indirect appeal for Saddam’s life, telling Al-Jazeera television that his trial was illegal and that he should be retried by an international court.
Saddam was a prisoner of war, and “those who arrested should try him,” Gadhafi said, referring to the American troops who captured Saddam in December 2003.
MN:
AMMAN, Jordan - Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party threatened Wednesday to retaliate if the ousted Iraqi leader is executed, warning in an Internet posting it would target U.S. interests anywhere.
The statement appeared on a Web site known to represent the party, which was disbanded after U.S.-led forces overthrew Saddam in 2003. The site is believed to be run from Yemen, where several exiled Baathists are based.
On Tuesday, Iraq’s highest court rejected Saddam’s appeal against a conviction and death sentence for the killing of 148 people who were detained after an attempt to assassinate in Dujail, northern Iraq, in 1982. The court said the former president should be hanged within 30 days.
“Our party warns again of the consequences of executing Mr. President and his comrades,” the statement said.
“The Baath and the resistance are determined to retaliate, with all means and everywhere, to harm America and its interests if it commits this crime,” the statement added, referring to Baath fighters as “the resistance.”
“The American administration will be held responsible for any harm inflicted on the president because the United States is the decision-maker (in Iraq) and not the puppet Iraqi government.”
The statement said that if the execution takes place, it would be impossible for the Baath to take part in any prospective negotiations with U.S. and Iraqi officials to reduce the violence in Iraq.
Saddam’s defense lawyers, who are based in Amman, called on Arab governments and the United Nations to intervene to stop the execution.
“Otherwise, all may be participating in what is going on, either actually or due to their silence in face of the crimes, which are being committed in Iraq in the name of democracy,” the lawyers said in a statement in English that was e-mailed to The Associated Press bureau.
The statement, signed by “the Defense Committee for President Saddam Hussein,” said the court’s rejection of Saddam’s appeal was part of the “continued shedding of pure Iraqi blood by the current regime in Iraq, which (is) directly connected with the American occupation.”
