Saddam deputy hanged in Iraq for the killings of 148 Shiites

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(20 Mar 2007) • AP Television News • FILE: February 12, 2007 • 1. Various of former Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan in court as judge passes death sentence • 2. Wide of square • 3. Various street scenes • Pool • FILE: November 5, 2006 • 4. Judge pointing towards defendants • 5. Ramadan standing in court as judge sentences him to life in prison in initial hearing UPSOUND (Arabic) Judge: The court has decided to sentence Ramadan to life in prison. • Pool • FILE: March 1, 2006 • 6. Wide of defendants with Ramadan standing up and speaking in back row • 7. Ramadan speaking • 8. Wide of defendants with Ramadan seated in back row • 9. Ramadan taking notes • STORYLINE: • Saddam Hussein's former deputy was hanged before dawn on Tuesday for the killings of 148 Shiites, an official with the prime minister's • office said. • Taha Yassin Ramadan, who was Saddam's vice president when the regime was ousted four years ago, was the fourth man executed in the killings of 148 Shiites following a 1982 assassination attempt against the former leader in the city of Dujail. • The Iraqi government had asked US Authorities late on Monday for custody of Ramadan in order to carry out the hanging. • An official, who witnessed the hanging but spoke on condition of anonymity because an official announcement had not been made, said • precautions were taken to prevent a repeat of what happened to Saddam's half brother Barzan Ibrahim, who was decapitated on the gallows. • Ramadan was weighed before the hanging and the length of the rope was chosen accordingly, the official said. • The executions have outraged Iraqi Sunnis and caused concern among international human rights groups, which had appealed for Ramadan's life. • Ramadan was convicted in November of murder, forced deportation and torture and sentenced to life in prison. • A month later, the appeals court said the sentence was too lenient, and returned his case to the High Tribunal, demanding he be sentenced to death. • The court agreed to turn it to a death sentence and an appeals court upheld the death sentence late last week. • Ramadan had maintained his innocence, saying his duties were limited to economic affairs, not security issues. • Human Rights Watch and the International Centre for Transitional Justice have said the evidence against him was insufficient for the death penalty. • Saddam and two other regime members were sentenced to die and were hanged. • Saddam was executed on December 30, 2006. His half brother and former intelligence chief Ibrahim, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, former head of Iraq's Revolutionary Court, were executed in January. • • Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork • Twitter: / ap_archive • Facebook: / aparchives • Instagram: / apnews • • • You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...

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