Saddam verdict, hailed by foes, upsets some Arabs

BEIRUT, Nov 5 (Reuters) Saddam Hussein's death sentence today evoked satisfaction in countries he invaded, sorrow among his Palestinian admirers and resentment from some Arabs who see him as the victim of a US-inspired show trial.

Kuwaitis, who suffered a seven-month Iraqi occupation in 1990-91, applauded the Baghdad court's decision that the former Iraqi president should hang for crimes against humanity.

''This is good news,'' Kuwaiti political analyst and former oil minister Ali al-Baghli said.

''Saddam deserves to be hanged because of the atrocities he inflicted on his people for the past 35 years and on his neighbours also. He sent millions of people to their deaths.'' Iran said it hoped Saddam, who was convicted over the deaths of more than 148 Shi'ite men from the Iraqi town of Dujail, would still be brought to book for offences it accuses him of committing during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.

Ali Farhoudi, a 38-year-old veteran of that conflict, expressed a widely held view among Iranians that the noose was too merciful a punishment for the former Iraqi president.

''What I have suffered during the war will never be compensated, even if he is hanged 100 times,'' Farhoudi said.

Soroush Ramazani, too young at 17 to remember the war, said Saddam deserved to be tortured to death for his crimes.

''Maybe in the afterlife the tortures that God will give him in hell will be a better punishment,'' said Hossein Vahidi, 24.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said his country welcomed the verdict, adding that: ''Although Saddam and his allies carried out those crimes, it should not be forgotten that Saddam's Western supporters also paved the way for him to carry out those oppressive acts and crimes.'' MORE REUTERS AKJ BST2108