Breaking! Report: Saddam Handed Over to Iraqi Authorities

or quickly broken out....

Saddam to Be Hanged 'Without Delay,' Iraqi PM Says
By Patrick Goodenough
CNSNews.com Managing Editor
December 29, 2006

(CNSNews.com) - Saddam Hussein's execution will be carried out without delay, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was quoted as saying Friday, amid a flurry of speculation about the timing of the hanging.

"There will be no review [of the sentence] or delay in carrying out the execution against the criminal Saddam," said a statement from al-Maliki's office, reported by Iraqi state television.

"Whoever rejects Saddam's execution would be insulting the martyrs," he said in the statement, referring to Iraqi victims of the former dictator's oppressive rule.

One of Saddam's defense lawyers, former Qatari Justice Minister Najib al-Nuaimi, told al-Jazeera television he believed the execution would take place on Saturday, based on a request by the U.S. military for the defense team to collect the prisoner's personal belongings.

Wire services are reporting at midday Friday eastern U.S. time that the U.S. has already handed Saddam over to Iraqi authorities, and the Associated Press quoted an Iraqi judge as saying the execution would take place by Saturday at the latest.

Saturday is the first day of the Islamic holiday of Eid ul-Adha, marking the end of the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca.

Iraq's appeal court earlier this week rejected Saddam's appeal against his Nov. 5 conviction and death sentence for his role in the killing of 148 people in a Shi'a town in northern Iraq in 1982. The court said he should be hanged within a month.

Among those appealing for clemency are members of his legal team, including former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, the Vatican's spokesman on justice issues, Cardinal Renato Martino, and the spiritual head of the world's Anglicans, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams.

The European Union, which opposes the death penalty, argued for the sentence to be commuted to life imprisonment.

President Bush's two key allies in Iraq, the governments of Britain and Australia, also both hold anti-capital punishment positions.

"We have always made it clear that we were against the death penalty, but at the end of the day, it is up to the tribunal to make their decision," a spokesmen for Britain's Foreign Office was quoted as saying.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard, speaking after the original sentence was handed down last month, reiterated his opposition to the death penalty but said the real issue was that "this mass murderer was given due process."

Saddam, who ruled Iraq from 1979, was toppled by a U.S.-led coalition in April 2003, went into hiding and was captured by U.S. forces in December of that year. He has been held at the U.S. Army's Camp Cropper near Baghdad airport.

The speculation is that Saddam's execution won't matter that much on the ground as it is already as bad as it can get.

Roxxxanne wrote:

The speculation is that Saddam's execution won't matter that much on the ground as it is already as bad as it can get.

I can't believe you would underestimate bushs' ability to f*ck things up so badly.

Saddam is still in US custody.

LoneStarMadam wrote:

Saddam is still in US custody.

Nonsense

"Saddam will be executed today or tomorrow," said Mr Munir Haddad, a judge on the appeals court that upheld the former dictator's death sentence. "All the measures have been done."

Mr Haddad is authorised to attend the execution on behalf of the judiciary. "I am ready to attend and there is no reason for delays," Mr Haddad said. (AP)

Fox News reporting that now saddam hab been turned over to the Iraqi authorities within the last few minutes.