10 January 2007 :

Italy and the Council of Europe are working together to gather as much support as possible for a United Nations General Assembly based initiative for a worldwide moratorium on executions with view to full abolition of the death penalty. The statement was made by Italy’s Foreign Ministry following a meeting between Foreign Minister Massimo D’Alema and Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Terry Davis.   
Leaders of the Council of Europe called on Iraqi authorities to suspend the death penalty in the wake of the execution of former dictator Saddam Hussein and the other executions expected soon. A press release issued by the Strasbourg-based Council, affirmed the leaders solidarity towards the Iraqi people and reiterated their "unequivocal condemnation of the crimes committed by the regime of Saddam Hussein." But at the same time, the Council leaders called for "an immediate end of executions and the abolition of death penalty in Iraq." The leaders stressed that this message "is based on our own experience in Europe, namely that the death penalty violates human rights and that without human rights there can be no justice, peace and reconciliation."
"I believe (abolishing the death penalty) must constitute one of the top commitments of our international efforts because it is urgent to have an initiative to put an end to the barbarianism of the death penalty," D'Alema told the Italian news agency ANSA a week before.
Italy is hoping that the global disgust over the way the execution was carried out will result in political pressure on those countries which still use the death penalty. Rome is hoping its new position as a temporary member of the UN Security Council may be of some assistance and also wants to get EU backing for its initiative.