Libya will raise a statue of Saddam Hussein alongside that of a national hero hanged in 1931 for leading the Libyan resistance against Italian occupation, the government said on Thursday. “The revolutionary committees have decided to erect a statue of Saddam Hussein standing beside Omar Mukhtar on the gallows,” it said in a statement. Libya declared three days of mourning after Saddam’s death and cancelled public celebrations around the Eid religious holiday. Flags on government buildings flew at half-mast. On the eve of Saddam’s hanging, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi said the former Iraq leader was a prisoner of war who must be tried by Iraq’s invaders, the United States and Britain.
