IRAQI FOREIGN MINISTER DEFENDS EXECUTIONS

January 23, 2007: following talks with his Italian counterpart, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari defended the execution of Saddam Hussein and other former Iraqi officials, which prompted Italy to lead a push for a worldwide moratorium against the death penalty.
“Iraq is going through extraordinary and exceptional circumstances” Zebari said. “We are looking forward to aboloshing the death penalty in Iraq… but we need a strong deterrent to stop people from killing indiscriminately”.
Saddam’s Dec. 30 execution was denounced across Italy’s political spectrum, with Berlusconi calling the killing a political error and Prodi expressing concern that the hanging would fuel more violence in Iraq.
The gruesome and inadvertent decapitation of Saddam’s half brother when he was hanged two weeks later horrified many worldwide. After Saddam’s execution, Prodi’s center-left-government began a diplomatic push to have a worldwide moratorium against the death penalty adopted by the UN General Assembly. (Sources: AP, 240/01/2007)