BAGHDAD - The United States said on Sunday it will hold Saddam Hussein’s cousin, known as ‘Chemical Ali’, and two other former officials sentenced to death, until Iraqi leaders reach a consensus on their fate.Iraq’s prime minister, president and a vice president have been at odds over who has the authority to order the execution of Ali Hassan Al Majeed, former Defence Minister Sultan Hashem and former army commander Hussein Rashid Muhammad. US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said: ‘They are in United States custody and ... once the government of Iraq has reached a consensus on what they wish to do with these detainees we will then take action.’
| So they can swing or they can stay in our custody. Works for me. |
An Iraqi court in September upheld the death sentence against the three men who were convicted of genocide for their roles in a campaign against IraqÂ’s Kurds in 1988. Under IraqÂ’s constitution, the death sentence should have been carried out within 30 days.
President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd who opposes the death penalty, and Vice President Tareq Al Hashemi, a member of Saddam’s Sunni Arab minority, say Iraq’s constitution requires that the three-man presidency council—made up of the president and two vice presidents—agree to an execution. Maliki’s government says the council has no such power.
The US military has said it would keep the three men until it receives an ‘authoritative government of Iraq request’. Many Sunni Arabs believe former Defence Minister Hashem should be spared execution, arguing he was only a figurehead in a campaign run by Majeed.
| Hang him anyway and teach people the danger of being a figurehead in an odious regime. |