Human Rights Watch opposes Saddam execution.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

As a donors and supporters of HRW, (and, Amnesty International, which I expect to follow suit), we agree with their opposition to state sponsored killing.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061226/ts_alt_afp/iraqsaddamtrialus

NEW YORK (AFP) - Human Rights Watch urged the Iraqi government not to execute
Saddam Hussein, describing the trial that convicted the former president for crimes against humanity as "deeply

"Imposing the death penalty, indefensible in any case, is especially wrong after such unfair proceedings," said Richard Dicker, director of Human Rights Watch's international justice programme. "That a judicial decision was first announced by Iraq's national security adviser underlines the political interference that marred Saddam Hussein's trial," he added.

Saddam was sentenced to death in November after a trial lasting more than a year for ordering the deaths of 148 Shiite civilians from the town of Dujail, north of Baghdad, after an assassination attempt in 1982. A panel of Iraqi judges rejected his appeal and upheld the sentence earlier Tuesday, setting the stage for the ousted dictator to be hanged within 30 days.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said the Iraqi appeals court should have conducted a thorough legal review of the verdict. The rights watchdog last month identified serious flaws in Saddam's trial, describing the trial in a 97-page report as "marred by so many procedural and substantive flaws that the verdict is unsound."

Human Rights Watch routinely opposes the use of the death penalty, describing the punishment as inherently inhumane.