Saddam's Death Sentence a Crime

Renato Raffaele Cardinal Martino

Function: President of Justice and Peace, Roman Curia

Title: Cardinal Deacon of St. Francis of Paola ai Monti

Birthdate: Nov 23, 1932	Country: Italy

Elevated: Oct 21, 2003	More information: www.catholic-hierarchy.org

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Saddam's Death Sentence a Crime
Dec 28, 2006
Sentencing ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein to death is a crime for the Catholic Church says Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, which has always condemned the death penalty.

Rome, 28 Dec. (AKI) - In an interview to Rome daily La Repubblica published on Thursday Martino said: "I hope a crime will not be compensated with another crime. The Church says that human life must be protected from conception until a natural death. The death penalty isn't a natural death. Nobody can give death, not even the state."

"There's still a period of 30 days (before the death sentence must be carried out), the president's signature is required, things can happen," the cardinal also told the paper.

Italian premier Romano Prodi has also condemned the decision to impose the death penalty.

In the interview to Repubblica, Martino criticised the US for showing pictures of soldiers checking Saddam's teeth "like a cow" immediately after he was captured in December 2003.

The former papal envoy to the United Nations said Saddam's responsibility in mass killings had no impact in the Church's opposition to the death penalty.

The ousted Iraqi leader could be hanged on any of the next 30 days following the rejection on Tuesday of an appeal against his death sentence. Saddam Hussein had appealed against the death sentence on 5 November over the killing of 148 Shiites in the town of Dujail in 1982. He is also on trial in a second case but under Iraqi law the execution must go ahead.

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