Baghdad, 15 March (AKI) - Iraq's high court on Thursday upheld a death sentence against former Iraqi deputy president Taha Yasin Ramadan, the Qatar-based Al Jazeera channel reported. The court dismissed an appeal by Ramadan's legal team to have the sentence overturned. A lawyer representing the former deputy president, Bushra al-Khalil, was quoted as saying by the Arab daily al-Hayat that he believed his client would be executed "soon". "The Americans have called his (Ramadan's) family asking them to name a person who will be delegated to collect the body for burial following the execution," al-Khalil added. | I just hate getting those calls at dinner time |
An appeals court sentenced Ramadan to death by hanging on 12 February overturning a previous life sentence handed down for his role in the 1982 killing of 148 Shiites the village of Dujail. The death sentence was confirmed despite a plea by UN human rights chief Louise Arbour, who said an execution would violate international law. |