President
Jalal Talabani said on Wednesday he would never sign former deputy
premier Tariq Aziz's execution order, stressing it was time to turn the
page on Iraq's history of capital punishment.
"No, I will not sign this kind of order because I am a socialist," Talabani told France 24 television.
"I feel for Tariq Aziz, because he's an Iraqi Christian, and he's also an elderly person, over 70 years old. That's why I will never sign this execution order."
Aziz was handed the death penalty on Oct. 26 for the suppression of Shiite parties in the 1980s, and is also on trial for a crackdown on Iraqi Kurds, of which Talabani is one.
Iraq's supreme criminal court found the longtime international face of former president Saddam Hussein's regime guilty of "deliberate murder and crimes against humanity," sentencing him to death. Aziz has been in prison since surrendering in April 2003, shortly after the fall of Baghdad in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Talabani+rejects+Aziz+execution/3847422/story.html#ixzz15dMfnoKm
"No, I will not sign this kind of order because I am a socialist," Talabani told France 24 television.
"I feel for Tariq Aziz, because he's an Iraqi Christian, and he's also an elderly person, over 70 years old. That's why I will never sign this execution order."
Aziz was handed the death penalty on Oct. 26 for the suppression of Shiite parties in the 1980s, and is also on trial for a crackdown on Iraqi Kurds, of which Talabani is one.
Iraq's supreme criminal court found the longtime international face of former president Saddam Hussein's regime guilty of "deliberate murder and crimes against humanity," sentencing him to death. Aziz has been in prison since surrendering in April 2003, shortly after the fall of Baghdad in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Talabani+rejects+Aziz+execution/3847422/story.html#ixzz15dMfnoKm
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