22 June 2006 :

"Our Hands Off Cain is also valid for Saddam: thus, ‘hands off Saddam’, which does not equate to non-punishment, but physical wellbeing and human dignity”, stated Secretary and Treasurer of Hands Off Cain Sergio D’Elia and Elisabetta Zamparutti in commenting the prosecutors’ death penalty requests for the former Iraqi dictator.
“For what he did to his people, Saddam should be sentenced to death a thousand times, but the question is: do we deserve to issue it? Saddam’s execution firstly calls into question our sense of civility and humanity.
Sentencing him to death and executing him would also be a grave political error as it would give terrorism and the Sunni militants a martyr for their cause. In this way, the most bloody dictator in the world would pass from the dark pages of history, where it is best he remain, to the front pages of contemporary politics.
There is another reason he should not be sentenced to death: the current trial does not meet internationally recognised minimum standards for a fair trial.
The tribunal hearing his case was hastily set up following a political decision by the transitional government whilst in a state of emergency and at the beginning of the country’s reconstruction process where the foundations for a state based on rights and a separation of powers have not yet seen light.
The trial is being conducted only by Shiite and Kurd magistrates which connotes a trial by the victims against their executioner. It would have been better to put Saddam before an international tribunal.”