Blair and Brown condemn Saddam execution
Saddam's execution appalled Britain's leaders
Also In The News
|
Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki has threatened to review his country's relations with any states condemning the recent hanging of former dictator Saddam Hussein. |  |
Sunday, 07, Jan 2007 10:35
Tony Blair and Gordon Brown have made clear their opposition to the way in which the execution of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was carried out.
Saddam was hanged to death on December 30th but his execution attracted international condemnation when leaked footage of the hanging, taken on a mobile phone, showed Saddam being heckled by unknown bystanders who were heard shouting the name of prominent Shia militant Moqtada al-Sadr.
This morning chancellor Gordon Brown spoke out against the execution, which he described in an interview with the BBC as a "deplorable set of events".
Later on Sunday a No. 10 spokesperson, pre-empting comments Mr Blair is expected to make in the coming week, said that the prime minister thought the execution had been "completely wrong".
The Labour leaders' comments follow a warning delivered yesterday by Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki that his government could review the relations of any countries that criticised the execution of Saddam, which he viewed as a domestic affair.
Neither Mr Blair nor Mr Brown appear to have taken note of the threat, however.
"Now that we know the full picture of what happened, we can sum this up as a deplorable set of events," said Mr Brown. "It is something, of course, which the Iraqi government has now expressed its anxiety and shame at."
"It has done nothing to lessen tensions between the Shia and Sunni communities."
Mr Brown, who does not support capital punishment, said he found the events surrounding Saddam's hanging "unacceptable".
The international community is also placing further pressure on Iraq over the pending execution of two of Saddam Hussein's aides.
Saddam's half-brother Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikrit and Awad Ahmed al-Bandar, who were sentenced over the death of 148 Shia Muslims in 1982, were due to be executed on Thursday. Their deaths were postponed and could come as early as today.