Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Saturday threatened to ”review” relations with countries which have criticised the bungled execution of Saddam Hussein, saying the hanging was an internal matter.
”The Iraqi government could be obliged to review its relations with any state that fails to respect the wish of the Iraqi people,” said Maliki in his first reaction to the ousted president’s hanging in Baghdad on December 30.
”We consider the execution of the dictator an internal affair that concerns only the Iraqi people,” said Maliki, speaking at a ceremony on the 86th anniversary of the Iraqi army.
Maliki also lashed out at those who criticised the execution.
”We find that this conduct is inciting sedition and flagrant interference in the internal affairs of Iraq and abuses feelings of the families of the victims,” a stern Maliki said.
A number of international leaders have criticised Saddam’s hanging, saying it appeared as a sectarian lynching rather than a court-directed punishment after a guard, believed to be a Shi’ite, taunted the Sunni former president in his final moments.
The strongest criticism came from Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who even said that the execution had turned Saddam into a ”martyr”.
Maliki also insisted Saddam’s hanging was not a political act.
”The execution of the despot was not a political decision as suggested by the enemies of Iraqi people,” Maliki said.
”The decision was implemented after a just trial, which the dictator did not deserve, as the crimes he committed against the people, the country and its institutions were disgraceful.”
Maliki said the authorities would not hesitate to carry out court sentences against other officials of the ousted regime.
”We will go ahead in applying the law against those who abused the Iraqi people and whose hands are stained with the blood of innocents,” he said.
Two former Saddam henchmen — Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti and Awad Ahmed al-Bandar — are expected to be hanged soon after they were found guilty along with Saddam of executing 148 Shi’ite civilians from Dujail, north of Baghdad, in the 1980s. — AFP
