FRANCE today said it hoped already bloody sectarian strife in Iraq would not worsen as a result of the death sentence delivered to Saddam Hussein. “I hope this decision will not lead to new tensions and that the Iraqis will show restraint, whatever community they belong to,” Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said.
He said that France was, on principle, opposed to the death penalty everywhere and held “a constant position in favour of its universal abolition”. | He said France acknowledged the death sentence handed down by an Iraqi court for Saddam's role in ordering the deaths of 148 Shiite villagers in the village of Dujail, north of Baghdad, in 1982. “France notes the sentence made by the Iraqi court at the end of the Saddam Hussein trial. This decision belongs to the Iraqi people,” Mr Douste-Blazy said.
He said that France was, on principle, opposed to the death penalty everywhere and held “a constant position in favour of its universal abolition”. The minister said France and its EU partners would attempt to make this stance known to Iraqi authorities. |