Saddam likely to be executed very soon
December 29th, 2006 by ashish
Now that Saddam’s plea has been considered and dismissed by the appeals tribunal in Iraq, there are reports that he may be executed very shortly, including as soon as this Saturday (the 30th of December, 2006)
Now this may seem a bit early, given that the 2 biggest democracies that carry out the death sentence, namely India and the US give the convicted person a number of appeals that may delay the actual death sentence by even a decade. It is the other, not so democractic countries such as China, Pakistan, Russia and Saudi Arabia where the execution happens very quickly after the appeals are over.
So we have people appealing for the death sentence not to be carried out based on 2 thoughts - there are those who are genuinely opposed to the death penalty such as the European Union, and then there are the ones who oppose it because they believe that reconciliation will be hit. This second viewpoint is more difficult to swallow given that the Shia majority have been opressed for so long and been forced to bear the tremendous opression and brutalities from Saddam and his henchmen. They are entitled to see him convicted by their own countrymen and then given the punishment so awarded. This is certainly not victor’s justice.
The problem is, except for Nuremberg, there has hardly been a time when the ruling elite have been tried (the closed is the so-slow Hague trial of the Serbs and assorted other accused) and so this concept of a dictator having been tried and punished does not set in. Typically, when dictators are overthrown, they are quickly dispatched (a prime example if when Rumania’s last dictator was overthrown and sentenced by a “people’s” tribunal).
