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Iraqis protest, celebrate the verdict
Published on Mon, Nov 06, 2006 at 11:12, Updated on Tue, Nov 07, 2006 at 07:41 in World section
Tags: Saddam Hussein, Trial , Baghdad Iraq
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Baghdad, Iraq: Many Iraqis reacted with jubilation to Saddam Hussein's death sentence Sunday, while others took to the streets in protest.
The Interior Ministry closed two Sunni satellite TV stations accused of inciting sectarian violence, a ministry official said.
Iraqi police and soldiers ordered the employees of First Channel [Zawra] and Salaheddin TV to leave their offices in Tikrit, Hussein's hometown.
That is where as many as 2,000 people protested Sunday's verdict and sentence against the former Iraqi leader, defying the government's curfew.
Earlier in the day, a witness said the protesters in Tikrit carried posters of the former president and were shooting into the air. The numbers of demonstrators grew after the sentence was announced. There have been no reports of widespread violence, and the measure to close the two TV networks is largely precautionary.
A complete movement ban, both people and vehicles, was imposed on Sunday in the provinces of Baghdad, Diyala and Salaheddin, where Tikrit is located.
Meanwhile, gleeful Iraqis took to the streets in celebration in predominantly Shiite areas, including Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood, southern towns in Wasit province, and the southern city of Najaf.
Some carried pictures of Muqtada al Sadr's grandfather, a cleric who was murdered by Hussein in the '80s and shot their guns in the air in celebration.
Witnesses said people shouted "the killer deserves to be killed" and set pictures of Hussein on fire.
In the climax to a trial that began more than a year ago, a combative Hussein and two other defendants on Sunday were sentenced to death by hanging for a brutal crackdown in 1982 in the Shiite town of Dujail.
One other defendant was sentenced to life in prison, and three received 15-year sentences. The Dujail case stemmed from a crackdown against townspeople after a 1982 assassination attempt against Hussein in the town.
According to court documents, the military, political and security apparatus in Iraq and Dujail killed, arrested, detained and tortured men, women and children in the town. Homes were demolished and orchards were razed.
Sunday's 50-minute court session was dramatic. Hussein entered with a Quran in hand, as he had in the past. He began shouting Allahu Akhbar (God is great) as the verdict and sentencing was read.
He also argued with the chief judge and shouted, "Damn you and your court." As the judge ordered him taken away, Hussein said to one of the guards,
"Don't push me, boy."
President Bush called the verdict "a milestone in the Iraqi people's efforts to replace the rule of a tyrant with the rule of law."
"It's a major achievement for Iraq's young democracy and its constitutional government," Bush said, speaking on the tarmac at the airport in Waco, Texas, before heading to Nebraska for a campaign event.
The appeal process has now been set in motion.
Within 10 days, the court will forward the cases of Hussein and three other defendants to the appellate chamber of the Iraqi High Tribunal. Appeals of death penalties and life sentences are automatic.
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