UK. BROWN: SADDAM'S EXECUTION 'COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE'
January 8, 2007: British Chancellor of Exchequer Gordon Brown condemned the hanging of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein as "deplorable" and "completely unacceptable", the BBC reported.
Brown told BBC One's Sunday AM that he was against the death penalty, saying the execution has "done nothing to lessen tensions between the Shia and Sunni communities" in Iraq. Brown's comments came after mobile phone footage of the hanging, which showed Saddam Hussein being taunted with Shia slogans, provoked worldwide outrage.
"Now that we know the full picture of what happened, we can sum this up as a deplorable set of events," said Brown. "Even those people unlike me who are in favor of capital punishment found this completely unacceptable and I am pleased that there is now an inquiry into this and I hope lessons in this area will be learnt, as we learn other lessons about Iraq." he added. (Sources: EastDay.com, 08/01/2006)
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