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UN Calls for Amnesty for Saddam Associates
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour has appealed to the Iraqi government not to execute two close associates of Saddam Hussein, former head of the Revolutionary Court of Iraq Awad Hamed al-Bandar and Hussien's half-brother and former head of the Iraq secret service Barzan Ibrahim El-Hassan al-Tikriti.
Arbour stated that she address her request to spare the lives of the Iraqi former officials to Iraqi President Jalal Talabani. She expressed doubt about the impartiality of the court and the observance of all legal standards throughput the trials, according to the Qatar-based news agency Al Jazeera.
The administration of UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon stated that the secretary general fully supports the commissioner's position.
There is little hope that the Iraqi government will heed the UN appeal, however. Arbour made a similar appeal for the live of Hussein, who was nonetheless executed on December 30 by hanging. It was assumed at first that the two officials would be executed along with Hussein. Their personal belongings were taken from them on December 29.
The latest information available is that the officials are still in an American-controlled prison. Only Iraqi authorities can execute them, however.
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