Region | Iraq
Reactions to Saddam's execution
Saddam Hussain received the death penalty by hanging for committing crimes against humanity. His hanging illicits varied reactions from world leaders and common people.
- Agencies
- Published: 00:47 August 22, 2007
- Iraqis at the main shopping area in Auburn, Sydney, wave an Iraqi flag to greet news of Saddam Hussain's death.
- Image Credit: Reuters
Saddam Hussain was hanged on Saturday for crimes against humanity. Here are reactions to the news:
"Bringing Saddam Hussain to justice will not end the violence in Iraq, but it is an important milestone on Iraq's course to becoming a democracy that can govern, sustain, and defend itself."
George W. Bush
US President
"We are against the death penalty. However, what I think is important about this is to recognise that this trial of Saddam has been handled by the Iraqis themselves. It does give us a very clear reminder of the total and barbaric brutality of that regime."
Tony Blair
British Prime Minister
"I welcome the fact that Saddam Hussain has been tried by an Iraqi court for at least some of the appalling crimes he committed against the Iraqi people. He has now been held to account."
Margaret Beckett
British Foreign Secretary
"Saddam was treated with respect when he was alive and after his death. Saddam's execution was 100 per cent Iraqi and the American side did not interfere."
Mouwafak Al Rubaie
Iraqi national security adviser
"The test of a government's commitment to human rights is measured by the way it treats its worst offenders ... History will judge the deeply flawed Dujail trial and this execution harshly."
Richard Dicker
Director of Human Rights Watch
"The rushed execution of Saddam Hussain is simply wrong. It signifies justice denied for countless victims who endured unspeakable suffering during his regime, and now have been denied their right to see justice served."
Larry Cox
Executive Director, Amnesty International USA
"We have acknowledged that the judgment has been made according to due process and pay respect to the legal procedures that the Iraqi government has taken. That said, what is most important in our view is to make this sentence not a new source of conflict but of reconciliation between the Iraqi people."
Tomohiko Taniguchi
Deputy Press Secretary of Japan's Foreign Ministry
"This will be a public accounting for the crimes that he and his regime undertook systematically over many years, but sadly it won't do much, I think, to set Iraq on a path to stability. The nature of the internal divisions are too deep. Saddam's execution won't be able to set right the problems that we allowed to take root."
Professor Charles Lipson
University of Chicago Political Science
"This means very little in the long run for the level of violence over there. I expect this will trigger some revenge killings. But the insurgency has been caused by so many factors I don't think this will have any meaningful impact over the long term."
Seth Jones
Terrorism Expert
"[Brazil] does not believe carrying out this sentence will contribute to bringing peace to Iraq."
Brazil Foreign Ministry
"An execution is always tragic news, reason for sadness, even in the case of a person who is guilty of grave crimes."
Rev Federico Lombardi
Spokesman for the Holy See
"The country is being plunged into violence and is essentially on the edge of large-scale civil conflict. The execution of Saddam may lead to the further aggravation of the military-political atmosphere and an increase in ethnic and religious tension."
Mikhail Kamynin Russian
Foreign Ministry spokesman
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