In what can be termed as a major blow to former Iraq president Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi appeals court on Tuesday upheld the death sentence passed against him. The death sentence could be carried out within the next 30 days.
A panel of Iraqi judges upheld the November 5 ruling by an Iraqi court that sentenced Saddam to the gallows for the killing of 148 people in 1982 in a single Shiite town after an attempt on his life there.
Raed Juhi, a spokesman for the High Tribunal court that convicted Saddam, said the Iraqi judicial system will ensure that Saddam is executed even if President Jalal Talabani and the two vice presidents do not ratify the decision.
"We will implement the verdict by the power of the law," Juhi said.
Saddam's half-brother Barzan al-Tikriti and former judge Awad al-Bander also received the death penalty for their part in the killing, torturing and deporting of hundreds of Dujailis.
