Execution of Hussein Regarded as a Settled Matter?

The trial of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, which began on July 1, is not expected to go smoothly since he does not approve the trial itself, and what is more, it is not easy to prove his guilt.

▽Controversy over execution

The Iraqi interim government is hurrying to execute Hussein while even speaking of the restoration of capital punishment, which is legally groundless. On June 30, the Minister of Justice Malik Dohan al-Hassan referred to the execution of Hussein as a settled matter.

It is because Hussein’s followers are liable to continual disturbance if he stays alive. It can be interpreted as their will not to let former examples like Napoleon happen again as Napoleon, who was removed from power and exiled to Elba Island, escaped and gathered his followers to go to war.

Capital sentence is highly probable if he is found guilty, because most Iraqi people who have suffered Hussein’s tyranny want his execution. However, it is not certain because England and international bodies such as the United Nations (UN), which conducted the Iraq war with the U.S., oppose execution.

Moreover, the provisional Iraqi constitution, which came into effect in March, does not permit capital punishment.

▽Disturbances to be caused in international society

The trial of Hussein by a judge who was appointed by the Iraqi Governing Council (IGC), which was dissolved last month, is highly likely to cause disturbance to the international society as the war crimes trial of former Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic did.

Hussein may expose during the trials the wrongdoings of the successive U.S. government and the leaders of the Iraqi interim government to embarrass them. It is analyzed to be the reason why the Iraqi interim government undertook his trial and the U.S. took charge of him.

Ho-Gab Lee gdt@donga.com