Hanging Saddam "barbaric" - top EU official

[maddezmom]

BRUSSELS, Dec 30 (Reuters) - Hanging former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was "barbaric" and may turn him into a martyr, the European Union's aid and development Commissioner told Reuters on Saturday.

Saddam, who had been convicted of crimes against humanity, was hanged at dawn in the Iraqi capital.

"You don't fight barbarism with acts that I deem as barbaric. The death penalty is not compatible with democracy," Louis Michel told Reuters.

"Unfortunately Saddam Hussein risks to appear as a martyr, and he does not deserve that. He is not a martyr, he committed the worse things," Michel said in a phone interview.

"The death penalty is against the values of the European Union ... we are against by principle, whatever the crimes committed by Saddam Hussein - and he committed horrible ones," Michel said.
more:http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L30630950.htm

Russia says Saddam's death can breed more violence
MOSCOW, Dec 30 (Reuters) - Russia said on Saturday it regretted the execution of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and expressed concerns that his death could trigger a new spiral of violence in Iraq.

"Regrettably, repeated calls by representatives of various nations and international organisations to the Iraqi authorities to refrain from capital punishment were not heard," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said in a statement.

"Saddam Hussein's execution can lead to further aggravation of the military and political situation and the growth of ethnic and confessional tensions."


http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L30741228.htm

Vatican says Saddam execution "tragic"
VATICAN CITY, Dec 30 (Reuters) - The Vatican on Saturday condemned the execution of Saddam Hussein as a "tragic" event and warned that it risked fomenting a spirit of vendetta and sowing fresh violence in Iraq.

"A capital punishment is always tragic news, a reason for sadness, even if it deals with a person who was guilty of grave crimes," said Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi.

"The position of the Church (against capital punishment) has been restated often," he said.

The Catholic Church teaches that capital punishment today is unjustifiable because modern society has developed ways of protecting society from further crimes by the guilty party and that because only God can end a life.
more:http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L30848769.htm

US war allies raise doubts over Saddam hanging
PARIS (AFP) - US President George W. Bush said that Saddam Hussein had received the kind of justice he denied his victims but some key US allies expressed discomfort at the execution of the former Iraqi dictator.

Bush, who ordered the March 20, 2003 invasion to oust the dictator, was asleep at his Texas ranch when the hanging of Saddam was carried out in Baghdad, the White House said.

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Britain, the main US ally in Iraq, said Saddam Hussein had been "held to account" but reiterated its opposition to the use of the death penalty, as did Australia another key supporter of the US invasion.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061230/ts_alt_afp/iraqjusticesaddamexecutionworld_061230061738

World leaders welcome, condemn Saddam's execution
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India said it also feared the execution could trigger more sectarian violence.

"We had already expressed the hope that the execution would not be carried out. We are disappointed that it has been," External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in a statement.

~snip~

In Pakistan, an Islamic ally in the U.S.-led war on terror, a leader of a coalition of six religious parties said Saddam had not received justice.

"We have no sympathy with Saddam Hussein, but we will also say that he did not get justice," Liaquat Baluch, a leader of the Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal, also known as the United Action Forum, told The Associated Press by phone.

more:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-12-30-saddam-reaction_x.htm?csp=34