Suleimaniyah, Iraq: The Iraqi president raised objections yesterday to the planned execution of Saddam Hussain's former defence minister, who is due to be hanged with two other former regime officials for their roles in a massacre of Kurds.
President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, said former defence minister Sultan Hashim Ahmad Al Tai deserved to be spared because he had been carrying out orders under threat of death by Saddam and because he had engaged in official contact with the Kurdish community under the ousted regime.
Earlier this week, an Iraqi appeals court upheld the death sentences imposed against Al Tai, along with Ali Hassan Al Majid, who gained the nickname 'Chemical Ali' after poison gas attacks on Kurdish towns in the 1980s, and Hussain Rashid Mohammad, former deputy director of operations for the Iraqi Armed Forces.
All three were convicted of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in June for their role in the brutal crackdown that killed up to 180,000 Kurdish civilians and guerrillas two decades ago known as Operation Anfal.
Talabani has said he is opposed to the death penalty. But he previously deputised Vice-President Adel Abdul Mahdi, a Shiite, to sign execution orders on his behalf.
The Iraqi president said yesterday, however, that he would not support the decision against Al Tai.
"Personally, I will not support executing Sultan Hashim," he said at a news conference in Suleimaniyah, 260 km northeast of Baghdad.
Seven troops killed
Seven US troops have been killed in Iraq, including four in the western province of Anbar, where gains in security were hailed this week by US President George W. Bush during an unannounced visit to the desert region.
The US military said yesterday that four Marines were killed in the vast province on Thursday while conducting combat operations. The military also said three soldiers were killed in the northern province of Nineveh.
