Cuba condemns execution of Saddam as 'illegal'
Campaign News | Tuesday, 2 January 2007
Statement deeply rejects hanging
Havana, Jan 1 (Prensa Latina) Cuba described as politically absurd the Saturday execution of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, who had been sentenced to death by a court established after the US military occupation.
It is politically absurd, an illegal act in a country that has been led to an internal conflict in which millions of citizens have been forced into exile or been killed, denounced a declaration issued by the Cuban Foreign Relations Ministry.
The news was received with surprise on the same day that the Muslims celebrate a sacred date, highlighted the communique released by the local media on Monday.
Cuba, where the death penalty has not been abolished due to the brutal war imposed by the US, has the moral duty to expose its point of view on the murder committed by the occupying nation.
In addition, it is time to prevent hundreds of US young people from dying or suffering from the war, the document remarked.
http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID=%7B1014879C-0F7F-44FA-8516-09ECD47B1649%7D)&language=EN
From the International Herald Tribune newspaper
HAVANA: Cuba on Monday condemned the execution of deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and called for the end to the war it said had caused the suffering of millions of innocent Iraqis.
Saddam's execution by hanging over the weekend was "an illegal act in a country that has been driven toward an internal conflict in which millions of citizens have been exiled or lost their lives," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by the official National Information Agency.
The statement acknowledged that Cuba "has not yet abolished the death penalty because of the brutal war imposed on it by the United States," referring to the U.S. government's long-standing policy to undermine the communist country, including trade and travel sanctions.
Nevertheless, the island nation "has a moral duty to express its point of view about the assassination committed by the occupying power," the statement said.
The U.S. military had held Saddam since capturing him in December 2003 but turned him over to the Iraqi government for his hanging.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/01/01/news/CB_GEN_Cuba_Saddam.php
