Newly elected Prime Minister Romano Prodi

ITALY SEEKS UN DEATH PENALTY BAN

January 2, 2007: Italy will campaign at the United Nations for a global ban on the death penalty, Prime Minister Romano Prodi said, after graphic images of Saddam Hussein's hanging shocked people around the world.
Italian politicians of all political parties expressed disgust at Saddam's execution, with even former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi calling it a "political and historic error".
Pressured by a week-long hunger strike by Hands Off Cain President Marco Pannella against Saddam's execution and the death penalty in general, Prodi said Italy would push the UN for a "universal moratorium" on capital punishment.
Prodi said Italy, which has just taken up a temporary Security Council seat, aimed to involve the 85 UN countries which signed a non-binding declaration in December against the death penalty in lobbying for a ban. (Sources: Reuters, 02/01/2007)