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Top StoriesOfficials: Saddam Still in U.S. Custody
By LAUREN FRAYER, Associated Press Writer
Saddam Hussein listens to the judges during his trial ...
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Saddam Hussein's half brothers visited him in his jail cell and he gave them his will, Iraqi officials said Friday, indicating his execution may be approaching. But they said he had yet to be transferred to Iraqi custody.
The former president is being held at Camp Cropper, an American military prison where he is expected to remain until the day of his execution, at which point he is to be transferred to Iraqi authorities.
On Tuesday, an Iraqi appeals court upheld Saddam's death sentence for the killing of 148 people who were detained after an attempt to assassinate him in the northern Iraqi city of Dujail in 1982. The court said the former president should be hanged within 30 days.
"Nothing and nobody can abrogate the ruling," Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said in comments released by his office Friday.
"Our respect for human rights requires us to execute him, and there will be no review or delay in carrying out the sentence," Al-Maliki said.
The Iraqi prime minister said those who oppose the execution of Saddam were insulting the honor of his victims. His office said he made the remarks in a meeting with families of people who died during Saddam's rule.
On Thursday two half brothers visited Saddam, a member of Saddam's defense team said, citing another of Saddam's lawyers.
"Upon his request, his two half brothers ... were brought to him and spent some time in his cell," Badee Izzat Aref told The Associated Press in a telephone call from Dubai.
"Saddam handed his brothers his personal belongings," Aref said.
A senior commander at the Iraqi defense ministry also confirmed the meeting, and said that Saddam handed over his will to one of his half brothers. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
But Raed Juhi, spokesman for the High Tribunal court that convicted Saddam, denied that Saddam's relatives visited him.
The White House was preparing for Saddam's execution as early as this weekend, based on information that U.S. officials in Baghdad were receiving from the Iraqi government, a senior administration official said in Washington.
U.S. and Iraqi authorities have said he will be handed over to Iraqi officials prior to his execution.
An official close to al-Maliki has said Saddam would remain in U.S. custody until he is delivered to Iraqi authorities on the day of his execution. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.
Ibrahim said Friday that the transfer had yet to occur.
"Press reports that he has been handed over are not correct," he said late Friday morning local time.
On Thursday, Saddam's chief lawyer beseeched world leaders to prevent the United States from handing over the ousted dictator to Iraqi authorities.
"According to the international conventions, it is forbidden to hand a prisoner of war to his adversary," Khalil al-Dulaimi told The Associated Press.
"I urge all the international and legal organizations, the United Nations secretary-general, the Arab League and all the leaders of the world to rapidly prevent the American administration from handing the president to the Iraqi authorities," al-Dulaimi said.
Cardinal Renato Martino, Pope Benedict XVI's top prelate for justice issues and a former Vatican envoy to the U.N., condemned the death sentence in a newspaper interview published Thursday, saying capital punishment goes against the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.
After Saddam's death sentence was handed down last month, Louise Arbour, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, urged Iraq to ensure a fair appeals process and to refrain from executing Saddam even if the sentence is upheld.
Some international legal observers and human rights groups have also called Saddam's trial unfair because of alleged interference by the Shiite-dominated government.
But State Department Deputy Spokesman Tom Casey said Thursday the Bush administration believes the trial was held in accordance with international and Iraqi laws.
"(The Iraqis) carried out their work in a transparent and open manner and they arrived at a verdict based on the facts in the case," Casey said.
News of Saddam's impending execution came as the U.S. military reported the deaths of eight more troops and announced that Iraqi forces, backed by American forces, captured an al-Qaida in Iraq cell leader believed responsible for the June kidnapping of two soldiers who were found tortured and killed.
With at least 72 more Iraqis killed Thursday in violence, U.S. officials and Iraqis expressed concern about the potential for even worse bloodshed following Saddam's execution. Al-Dulaimi, the lawyer, said transferring Saddam to Iraqi authorities could be the trigger.
"If the American administration insists in handing the president to the Iraqis, it would commit a great strategic mistake which would lead to the escalation of the violence in Iraq and the eruption of a destructive civil war," he said in a telephone interview.
On Friday, a round of mortar shells slammed into al-Maidan square in central Baghdad, wounding ten people and damaging shops and buildings in the area, a police officer at Rissafa Police Station said on condition of anonymity out of security concerns.
A roadside bomb wounded three civilians in Balad Ruz, 45 miles northeast of Baghdad, police said.
