US distances itself from death sentence for Saddam

WASHINGTON: The United States insisted on Monday that it played no role in an Iraqi court's decision to sentence former dictator Saddam Hussein to death, a judgement assailed by allied government's around the world.

The Iraqi High Tribunal, funded and advised by the US government, found Saddam guilty of crimes against humanity in the case of 148 Shiite civilians who were killed in revenge for an 1982 attempt on the then Iraqi leader's life.

In a unanimous decision by the tribunal's five judges, Saddam and two co-defendants were sentenced to death by hanging. Another defendant was sentenced to life in prison and three others to 15-year jail terms.

"We had absolutely nothing to do with the actual verdicts or the sentences themselves," said a senior US official close to the tribunal in Baghdad.

The death sentence "was not recommended by the United States, that was solely an Iraqi domestic decision", the official told reporters via video link from the Iraqi capital.

While the guilty verdict against Saddam was widely welcomed around the world, many US allies, particularly in Europe, criticised the imposition of capital punishment against the former Iraqi president.