India opposes death to Saddam, says Iraq peace may be hit

As an Iraqi appeals court upheld the death sentence to Saddam Hussain, India today expressed itself against the ruling. India said no step should be taken which could delay restoration of peace in the troubled country.

"We have seen reports that the appeals court has confirmed death sentence awarded to Hussain," External Affairs Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said here.

"It is our hope that the sentence will not be carried out and the former President's life will be spared," he said.

Sarna said New Delhi hoped that "no steps are taken which might obstruct the process of reconciliation and delay restoration of peace in Iraq."

India's reaction came after the appeals court approved the verdict to hang Hussain.

An Iraqi court had sentenced the former Iraqi president to the gallows on November 5 this year for the 1982 killings of 148 people in a Shiite town.

The death sentence on Saddam Hussein and two co-defendants in his trial for crimes against humanity will be carried out within 30 days, appeals court judge Arif Shaheen said.

"It cannot exceed 30 days. As from tomorrow the sentence could be carried out at any time," the judge said, after confirming that the sentences had been upheld and that the trial process was complete and without appeal.

"The appeals court has issued its verdict. What we have decided today is compulsory," he said, explaining that Saddam's case had now passed to Iraq's executive arm which is legally bound to follow the verdict.

Shaheen confirmed death sentences on Saddam, his half-brother Barzan al-Tikriti and former revolutionary court judge Awad Ahmed al-Bandar, as well as long jail terms on three more defendants.

He also said that Iraqi law stipulated that the sentences by carried out regardless of other legal proceedings ongoing, including Saddam's trial for genocide against the Kurdish population of northern Iraq.