Saddam sentence: Left cries foul, wants ‘hero’ saved

NEW DELHI: The Left on Wednesday joined the “stop the death sentence for Saddam” chorus and said the UN should immediately intervene. The CPM also wants the Manmohan Singh government to exhaust all political and diplomatic options to stop the execution.

The government had said on Tuesday, hours after the appeals court upheld the former Iraqi president’s death sentence, that India hoped the sentence would not be carried out.

The Congress on Wednesday reflected the government’s muted response, saying such pronouncements should not be made until the people of Iraq regained their faith in the judiciary and administration. Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said the party favoured peace in West Asia and believed that a democratic system in the real sense of the term should be put in place in the region.

The Left, however, was more unrelenting in its criticism of the “trial under US occupation”, saying a fair trial for Saddam was not possible under the present dispensation. The CPM politburo issued a statement saying the execution order by the appellate court would amount to judicial assassination.

“The US and the British government should realise that they will be responsible for the serious consequences which will result from this extra-legal step,” the party said.

It said further that the United Nations was bypassed in the aggression and occupation of Iraq, but the world body must intervene now to stop the execution. The party has called upon all sections of people to join the protests against the death sentence. CPI leader D Raja also described the trial as a “farce” and said the sentence was a judicial assault. “I don’t know what our government can do, but the UN should intervene immediately,” he said.

Saddam has been the CPM’s anti-imperialist hero in Kerala’s Thiruvambadi, which went in for Assembly polls recently. There is even a beach and some streets named after Saddam in the constituency, which has a large Muslim population.

The former Iraqi president has been sentenced to death for his role in the execution of 148 Shias in the town of Dujail in 1982.