Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein

IRAQ. PROSECUTORS SEEK DEATH FOR SADDAM

June 19, 2006: prosecutors demanded the death penalty for Saddam Hussein and three of his former aides for crimes against humanity following a 1982 crackdown on Shi'ites in which hundreds were killed and tortured after an attempt on the Iraqi leader's life in the village of Dujai.
Prosecutors also requested the death penalty for Saddam's half-brother Barzan al-Tikriti, former vice-president Taha Yassin Ramadan and the former chief judge of Saddam's Revolutionary Court, Awad Hamed al-Bander.
"The prosecution demand that the court impose the heaviest penalties on those defendants who spread corruption on earth and where not even trees escape their oppression, so we demand the court impose the death penalty," chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Moussawi told chief Judge Raouf Abdel Rahman.
Eight months into a tumultuous trial marred by the killings of two defence lawyers, the resignation of a judge and tirades from the defendants, prosecutors presented their final statements in a heavily-fortified Baghdad courtroom.
Rahman later adjourned the trial until July 10, when the defence team should deliver its final remarks. Saddam admitted he ordered trials that led to executions of Dujail villagers, but said it was his legal right to do so because he was the head of state at a time of war with neighbouring Iran. (Sources: Reuters, 19/06/2006)