IRAQ: Iraq president Saddam Hussein says prefers firing squad over hangman if convicted in his trial for crimes agaisnt humanity

Ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussein said on Wednesday (July 26) he would rather be shot than hanged if he is convicted in his trial for crimes against humanity. "I advise you as an Iraqi if you were in a circumstance in which you have to issue a death penalty you have to remember that Saddam is a military man and in this case the verdict should be death by shooting not by hanging," he told Chief Judge Raouf Abdel Rahman. Weak from a hunger strike, Saddam said he has been forced to attend his trial for crimes against humanity and that he would prefer to be shot than hung if found guilty. Chief Judge Rahman said the court had not yet reached a judgement or decided what type of sentence might be imposed. "We will check every word mentioned in the minutes of the sessions from the first one up the last one and we will study facts, hypotheses, testimonies and pieces of evidence presented to the court, whether they are written, voice or verbal ones and others to form an opinion. As for the type of the verdict it is out of the question until now," he said. The entire defence team boycotted the latest session in the controversial trial which is approaching its conclusion. Saddam, 69, had been fed through a tube in a hunger strike. The hunger strike did not take the edge off Saddam's trademark defiance exhibited throughout the trial in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, home to some of his former palaces. Although his once imposing voice was weak and despite losing some weight, the former Iraqi leader behaved angrily at times. Saddam and seven co-defendants are charged with the killing of 148 Shi'ites after an attempt on his life in Dujail in 1982. The trial has already been tarnished by the killing of three defence lawyers and the resignation of the first chief judge to protest what he said was government interference.

ITN Source | July 27, 2006

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