Iraq govt hails Saddam verdict, Sunnis complain

BAGHDAD, Nov 5 (Reuters) Iraq's Shi'ite-led government said Saddam Hussein had got what he deserved when an Iraqi court sentenced him to hang, but a senior Sunni Arab member of parliament dismissed Sunday's verdict as political.

The discrepancy highlighted sectarian divisions that have turned increasingly violent since U.S. forces overthrew Saddam in 2003.

''He is facing the punishment he deserves,'' Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a Shi'ite Islamist, said in a televised address to the nation two hours after the verdict.

The Islamic Party, Iraq's biggest Sunni Arab party, said that the government should have stopped the bloodshed in the country before sentencing Saddam.

''The government should have put food on the table of the starving people, stopped all criminal acts, death squads and sped up the national reconciliation before it puts all criminals before and after the fall of (Saddam's) regime on trial.'' A senior Sunni Arab parliamentarian, who asked not be quoted by name for fear of sectarian reprisals, said, however: ''This is a political verdict from a political court.'' Maliki said last month that Saddam's execution could not come soon enough, fuelling charges of political interference. But today he emphasised the independence of the court system.

''Justice is stronger than its enemies and the law will win,'' Maliki said. ''For me his sentence does not represent anything because executing him is not worth the blood he spilled ... but it may bring some comfort to the families of the martyrs.'' ''Executing Saddam will not bring a loved one back from the dead or a senior cleric like Sadr,'' he added, referring to Ayatollah Mohammed Sadeq al-Sadr, who was killed in 1999.

The murdered cleric's son Moqtada al-Sadr, a key supporter of Maliki, is also leader of the Mehdi Army militia accused by Sunnis of some of the worst recent death squad killings.

Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih, a Kurd, told Reuters: ''The court has proven to be professional and just. Saddam was given the justice he denied to the people of Iraq over 35 years.

''I hope the verdict will bring closure to this tragic and brutal episode in Iraqi history. We must never forget and we must always be vigilant never to let tyranny rise here in Iraq ever again -- but it's time to move on.'' Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the most powerful Shi'ite Islamist bloc in the government, praised the verdict but said now was the time for Iraqis to unite: ''Saddam is gone ... His tyranny and injustice are over forever,'' Hakim told his party's television channel.

''What happened to him is a lesson for everyone -- all tyrants will get what they deserve at the hands of those who suffer injustice,'' said Hakim, who previously led the Badr Brigade militia, which fought Saddam from exile in Iran.

''I call on all Iraqis to unite.'' REUTERS AKJ RN2246