Saddam to hang; urges Iraqis not to take revenge on US

VIDEO - Saddam Hussein, who was sentenced to death by hanging Sunday, urged Iraqis to reject the sectarian violence ripping his country apart and to "not take revenge" on US Invaders, his chief lawyer said after the sentence was read. " The message from President Saddam to his people came during a meeting in Baghdad this morning, just before the so-called Iraqi court issued its verdict in his trial," Khalil al-Dulaimi said. Iraq's High Tribunal on Sunday found Saddam Hussein guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced him to hang, as the visibly shaken former leader shouted, "God is great!" His half brother and former intelligence chief Barzan Ibrahim, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, head of the former Revolutionary Court, were sentenced to join Saddam on the gallows. "His message to the Iraqi people was 'pardon and do not take revenge on the invading nations and their people'," al-Dulaimi said, quoting Saddam. "The president also asked his countrymen to 'unify in the face of sectarian strife'," the lawyer added. Saddam and two other men on Sunday were convicted and sentenced to death by hanging for war crimes in the 1982 killings of 148 people in the town of Dujail. The former Iraqi leader shouted out in the court, condemning what he called the occupation of Iraq by US- and British-led coalition forces. Saddam Hussein at court Sunday (Photo: AP) Al-Dulaimi said Saddam "knew that he would be sentenced to death and wanted me to pass on this message to the Iraqi people and to the whole world after the verdict was announced." "The president said that 'Saddam Hussein won't be defeated. It's the men of Persia and those of the United States who will be'," al-Dulaimi said. "He said the people will remain strong and steadfast." Al-Dulaimi also claimed that the security situation in Baghdad was "very dangerous." "Iranian intelligence and US Invaders are patrolling around. There's nobody else on the streets," He said. "The people, around 7 million Iraqis, have been kicked out of their homes, the streets are all sealed off Baghdad looks like a ghost town," Al-Dulaimi said. Shiites celebrate, Sunnis angered Iraqi Shiites broke into celebratory gunfire and wild jubilation on Sunday after Saddam Hussein was sentenced to hang, but his fellow Sunnis paraded through their former leader's hometown of Tikrit chanting, "We will avenge you Saddam." Shiites celebrating Saddam's sentence (Photo: Reutters) In Sadr City, the Shiite stronghold of northeast Baghdad, hundreds of thousands of people poured out of their homes and youths took to the streets dancing and singing, despite a total curfew declared for Sunday over the most restive parts of the country. "Execute Saddam," They chanted. Many carried posters of radical anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose Mahdi Army militia effectively runs the district. "This is an unprecedented feeling of happiness," Said Sadr City resident Abu Sinan, 35. "The verdict declares that Saddam is paying the price for murdering tens of thousands of Iraqis," He said. Al-Maliki urged an end to rampant sectarian violence between Shiites and Sunnis, and called on Saddam supporters in the Sunni-led insurgency to end their fight. "I say to all deluded remnants of the previous regime: The period of Saddam and his party is gone as did other dictators' like Mussolini and Hitler," Said al-Maliki, a Shiite who was forced into years of exile during Saddam's rule. Al-Sadr, who commands a massive following among Shiites, called for peaceful celebrations and said violence against Sunnis would be considered treason. "You are called upon now to perform a thanksgiving prayer," Said a statement issued by his office which blared from the speakers of mosques across the sprawling slum of 2.5 million people.

Saddam to hang; urges Iraqis not to take revenge on US

(VIDEO) US-sponsored Iraqi tribunal sentences former dictator to death by hanging Sunday for crimes against humanity. Saddam calls on Iraqis to unify, reject sectarian violence