January 16, 2007

BAGHDAD, Iraq: Another deputy of former leader Saddam Hussein will be given the death penalty later this month after the appeals court ruled that his previous sentence of life in prison was too lenient, a spokesman said Tuesday.

Raid Juhi, a spokesman for the Iraqi High Tribunal, said a session will be held on Jan. 25 in which a judge will read the new verdict against former Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan.

On Nov. 5, Ramadan was convicted of premeditated murder and sentenced to life in prison. A month later, the appeals court said the sentence was too lenient, and returned his case to the High Tribunal, demanding he be sentenced to death. The court agreed to turn it to a death sentence.

The same day Ramadan was convicted, the court sentenced Saddam, his half brother and former intelligence chief Barzan Ibrahim, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, former head of Iraq's Revolutionary Court, to death. Three other defendants were sentenced to 15 years in jail while one was acquitted.

Saddam was hanged on Dec. 30, while Ibrahim and al-Bandar were executed Monday, provoking anger among their fellow Sunnis, who are the main driving force of the insurgency that began after the U.S.-led invasion that ousted Saddam in 2003.
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If the death sentence is upheld on appeal, Ramadan will have to be executed within 30 days of that decision, in accordance with Iraqi law.