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To Die For: Saddam Sentenced to be Hanged
"The court has decided to sentence defendant Saddam Hussein al-Majid to death by hanging until he is dead." - Chief Judge Raouf Abdel Rahma
To the surprise of no one, days before the midterm elections in the US, the former Iraqi leader, Saddam "Didn't We Used to be Bros" Hussein was sentenced today to death by hanging for his crimes against humanity.
After a failed assassination attempt in 1982, Saddam masterminded the murders of 148 Shiites in the village of Dujail. A year later he shook hands with Donald Rumsfield.
His defense lawyers (the ones who replaced the three others who were murdered during the trial) argued that Saddam had let all 148 stand trial, before they were killed.
"The court allowed defendants to commission a lawyer and if a defendant was not able to hire a lawyer then the court would appoint one for him. The court also was allowing all defendants to talk freely," a witness who testified behind a curtain said in May.
But Saddam's luck ran out and he and several others were found guilty and will be hanged in a few months if his appeals don't pan out.
As the verdict was being read, Saddam rudely interrupted the judge by yelling, "Long live Iraq! Long live the Iraqi people! Down with the invaders. God is Great. God is Great. God is Great... To hell with your articles and clauses...Down with the traitors!"
AP photo by Alaa al-Marjani