Iraqi prosecutors asked a judge today to sentence Saddam Hussein to death for his role in the killings of 148 villagers after a 1982 assassination attempt in the village of Dujail.
Saddam Hussein and Abdullah Kazim Ruwayyid listen as the prosecution begins giving its closing arguments, at the trial of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and seven members of his regime in Baghdad today
Prosecutors also requested the death penalty for Saddam's half-brother Barzan al-Tikriti; former vice-president Taha Yassin Ramadan; and the former chief judge of Saddam's Revolutionary Court, Awad Hamed al-Bander, in closing statements at their trial for crimes against humanity.
"The prosecution demand that the court impose the heaviest penalties on those defendants who spread corruption on earth and where not even trees escape their oppression, so we demand the court impose the death penalty," chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Moussawi told chief Judge Raouf Abdel Rahman.
Saddam, Barzan, Ramadan, Bander and four local Baath party officials face death by hanging if convicted for their roles in a crackdown against villagers in Dujail.
"We demand the court inflict the utmost punishments and also demand the financial and moral compensation for our clients for the damage they received," a lawyer representing people persecuted said.
Judge Rahman adjourned the trial until July 10th, when the defence team should deliver its final remarks.
Once final statements are in, a five-judge panel is expected to adjourn to consider a verdict. Any sentence of execution for the former Iraqi president could be delayed by appeals and possibly up to a dozen other trials for war crimes and genocide.
Saddam has admitted he ordered trials that led to executions of Dujail villagers but said it was his legal right to do so because he was the head of state at a time of war with neighbouring Iran.