BBC: Iraq CA rules Saddam must hang to death in 30 days

An Iraqi appeals court has upheld the death sentence against ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported, quoting Iraq's national security adviser. Under Iraqi law, Saddam must be executed within 30 days, BBC said in a story posted on its website, bbc.co.uk. The court also reportedly ruled that the ousted Iraqi strongman should die by hanging. "The appeals court approved the verdict to hang Saddam [Hussein]," BBC quoted Iraq National Security Adviser Mouwafak al-Ruabaie as saying. The report added that Saddam's lawyers had launched an appeal after a court sentenced him to death on Nov. 5, 2006 for the 1982 killings of 148 Shias in Dujail town north of Baghdad. The mass murder followed a failed assassination attempt against Saddam. The BBC's correspondent in Baghdad, Peter Greste, has reportedly assessed that "the execution is likely to provoke an angry response from Saddam Hussein's supporters, so it is understood that it will be carried out at a private time and in a private place." Saddam, the report said, is currently facing a separate trial in connection with a military campaign against Kurdish communities in the 1980s. Iraqi authorities, however, have consistently maintained that they will carry out the sentence even if court proceedings are still under way, the report quoted Greste as saying. - GMANews.TV