Hang Hussein fast, clerics say

BAGHDAD —  Addressing worshipers for the first time since the conviction of Saddam Hussein, many of Iraq’s Shiite Muslim preachers called Friday for the speedy hanging of the former president.

Hussein, a Sunni Muslim who long repressed Iraq’s Shiite majority, should be executed in public between two of the holiest Shiite sites in Iraq, a cleric demanded during his sermon in Karbala. “It’s the least that could be done to this tyrant for the atrocious crimes he has committed, in this city in particular,” said Sayyed Ahmed Safi, a preacher close to Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the country’s preeminent Shiite cleric.

Hussein was sentenced Sunday to death at the gallows in connection with his role in the killing of 148 Shiites from the village of Dujayl after a 1982 attempt to assassinate him. Dujayl was a stronghold of the devout Shiite activists who now dominate Iraq’s political and religious institutions.

U.S. officials had hoped the trial of Hussein, toppled in the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, would help unite Iraq. But many now believe the verdict is heightening ethnic and sectarian tensions. Shiites in eastern Baghdad and other areas where they are concentrated cheered the decision in mass rallies as angry Sunni Arabs marched in large demonstrations north of the capital.

Speaking to worshipers in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, preacher Sadruddin Qubanchi called for Hussein to go to the gallows as soon as possible. Qubanchi likened his execution to “decapitating a snake,” saying it would signify “the end of terror.”

“The verdict of death is less than what he deserves,” said Qubanchi, telling a crowd that Hussein’s hanging would signal a new beginning for Iraq by putting an end to hopes of Hussein’s supporters that he could ever return to power.

Worshipers chanted, “Execution is the least for Saddam!”

In the capital’s eastern Sadr City slum, a Shiite stronghold, Sheik Abdul Zahra Swaidi told a large crowd that Hussein was getting what he deserved.

“Saddam’s family and followers stole Iraq’s wealth and are paying for killings, displacement, assassinations,” Swaidi said. “We ask the government and the court to carry out Saddam’s execution -- Iraqis demand it.”

A legal expert in the Dujayl case said Hussein could be executed inside the notorious Abu Ghraib prison within the next four or five months. Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, a Shiite, has said Hussein could be hanged by the end of the year.

International observers have questioned the fairness of the trial. Some say the U.S.-backed court was illegitimate and the proceedings deeply flawed, and they note that the verdict came two days before America’s midterm election.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak warned this week that the execution of Hussein would deepen sectarian and ethnic strife and “explode violence like waterfalls in Iraq.”

Leaders of other key American allies, such as Saudi Arabia and Jordan, have not criticized the verdict.

At a mosque in the southern Iraqi city of Kufa, Shiite cleric Juma Khafaji called for the government to speed up Hussein’s execution. Khafaji, who is close to the anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr, warned other countries not to interfere to protect Hussein and lashed out at those who stood by “when Hussein was killing the Iraqis.”

In Iraq, Sunni Arab politicians have protested the verdict, saying it was the foregone result of a biased court.

Qubanchi in his sermon on Friday said Sunni Arab lawmakers had “made politics more chaotic” and warned Sunni blocs to “forget about Saddam.”

In Baghdad, meanwhile, Sunni preacher Hashim Yahya preached reconciliation to a crowd in a mosque but also issued not-so-veiled warnings to Shiite power brokers.

“Iraq has, regrettably, become a field for settling scores,” he said. “Those who are powerful now must always remember God’s might and power. The oppressed Iraqis will eventually question the officials about their deeds.”

roug@latimes.com

Times staff writers Caesar Ahmed in Cairo and Saad Fakhrildeen in Najaf contributed to this report.