Rome (ANTARA News) - The Vatican has criticized the decision of an Iraqi appeals court to uphold the death sentence imposed on Saddam Hussein for crimes against humanity, La Repubblica newspaper reported Thursday.
The president of the papal council for justice and peace, Cardinal Renato Martino, told the paper he did not think one crime could be offset with another and said he hoped the sentence would not be carried out.
"The death penalty is not a natural death. And no one can give death, not even the state," said Martino. The teachings of the Catholic Church demanded that human life be protected from its "conception" to a "natural death," he explained.
Martino also appealed for an international conference and negotiations to resolve the conflicts in Iraq, Lebanon and the entire Middle East region.
Saddam and six of his former top government aides were found guilty on November 5 of ordering the killing of 148 Shiites in the town of Dujail in 1982 in retaliation for an attempt on Saddam`s life.
Iraq`s appeals court on Tuesday rejected an appeal against the death sentence imposed on Saddam and two co-defendants - his half-brother and former intelligence chief Barzan al-Tikriti and Awad Ahmed al-Bandar, one of his former aides, DPA reported. (*)
Copyright © 2006 ANTARA (http://www.antara.co.id/en/seenws/?id=25275)
December 29, 2006
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