Saddam verdict rigged and outrageous: Karat

Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 5: Terming the death sentence verdict against Saddam Hussein as ''rigged and outrageous'', the Communist Party of India (Marxist) today asked the Centre to ''categorically condemn and actively intervene'' to nullify the sentence.

''This is a rigged verdict through a trial which is farce and the CPI(M) condemns and opposes this capital punishment,'' CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat told a news conference here.

The Centre should actively intervene diplomatically, politically and through the international forum to nullify the verdict. ''India can bilaterally convey to the U S and the UK its reaction against the verdict,'' he said.

Condemning in strong words the way in which the trial was conducted, he said ''if the execution is carried out, the US and the UK will be responsible for judicial assassination.'' Mr Karat, who is here to attend the party's state committee, said in Iraq, the occupiers decided to dispense justice through a court set up by them. In the course of the trial, the Chief Judge was changed two times and the present judge was the third one.

Not only that, two defence lawyers were even murdered, he said.

''About a few months ago, the Iraq Prime Minister had declared that Saddam should be executed,'' he said and added that the rigged verdict lies with the US.

''U S President George W Bush is facing elections and reports had said that a verdict against Saddam would help his party. What Mr Bush wants to claim through the verdict is that he has brought Saddam to justice,'' Mr Karat said.

The party would launch a nationwide agitation against the death sentence on Saddam, he said and added that the CPI(M) had called upon other like-minded and democratic organisations for launching similar protests.

UNI

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