So, Saddam Hussein has been found guilty (no surprise there then, the evidence was beyond doubt) of crimes against humanity and will face death by hanging. Western and many Arab governments are obviously publicly pleased by this while it is rumoured that many other governments that have said nothing are pleased with the outcome. Although the inevitable question about the death sentence has come up again with Britain and the rest of the EU saying that they still do not believe in the sentence while America is known to have it in force in places.
So is the death sentence right? Well in this case, whether anyone outside of Iraq thinks it is right or wrong is completely irrelevant really, we have to accept that it is Iraqi law and that is that, it is not our place to interfere with other countries legal systems when there has been a fair trial (or as fair as possible in this case). He will have a right to appeal, although not in the European sense of it. It will be an appeal that will purely look at how the case was orchestrated and whether it was fair, not at the evidence given, etc. But as for the overall question of the death sentence, in my opinion it is not a modern or humane option. While it would only be used for the worst criminals I personally would prefer to see these people lose all their freedom and everyday access to the world and to be left in jail for the rest of their lives. The common arguments about the costs side (being cheaper than keeping them in prison) is one that does not stand if you look at the American system where life imprisonment is cheaper than the death sentence. It has also been shown that the death sentence does not deter people from crime, that has again been shown in the US. Also I find it difficult to say how evil someone is for killing an innocent person (which it is if done intentionally) and then punish them by killing them, the state should not be killers of its own citizens, whatever the situation. But on the other hand, prisons should be more strict and rigorous. People who will be released should go in a prison that is focussed on rehabilitation, like our current ones, however people that are in prison and will not be released should be denied the ‘luxuries’ that normal prisons get, after all the crimes are that much more serious with little chance of the prisoner being release. The prisons also need to be cleaned of the various weapons, drugs and other things that are in them, and they need to be taken control of again as too many stories are about prisoners running prisons their way (although, in fairness, how wide spread this problem is will be open to debate depending on which paper you read)
Going back to the Iraq question, will the verdict and execution of Saddam Hussain help ease the violence? In a word, no. The violence is about sectarian and insurgents fighting for various causes, very few of these groups care what happens to Saddam as it is not about him anymore. That’s not to say though that some will not be smiling and some angered about the verdict. There was no easy way to try him, if he had been tried in the International Court insurgents and some Iraqis would have said it was a show trial by the west, the same allegations that could be used for the Iraq trial. Trying him in Iraq was the only real option to bring closure to his reign and begin sorting out the next lot of problems!
And sadly, with both the death sentence debate and the Iraq situation, both will go on for a long time yet.
