Shaken Saddam sentenced to hang

BAGHDAD, Nov 5 (Reuters) A visibly shaken Saddam Hussein was found guilty of crimes against humanity today and sentenced to hang at a lightning session of the US-sponsored court that has been trying him in Baghdad for the past year.

Two other senior aides, including his half-brother Barzan al-Tikriti, will also hang if their automatic appeals fail. His former vice-president was sentenced to life in prison and three minor Baath party officials received long jail sentences.

Shortly after the verdict was read in a heavily-fortified Baghdad courtroom, clashes broke out between gunmen and USnd Iraqi troops in two Sunni Muslim neighbourhoods of the capital.

By contrast Shi'ites, the majority now dominating Iraq, swarmed into the streets, yelling in joy that the secular Sunni Arab who oppressed them for three decades is now likely to be executed.

The reactions underscored the deep sectarian divisions in Iraq more than three years after the US-led invasion.

Saddam's counsel said the verdict was timed to help President George W Bush's Republicans at Tuesday's congressional elections, and had urged a delay to prevent the sentence triggering bloodshed ''for generations to come''.

Th US ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad, said ''closing the book on Saddam and his regime'' was a chance for Iraqis to unite. The court was set up by US occupying officials who resisted calls for an international tribunal, saying Iraqis should run it.

However, the descent into sectarian violence has dented hopes that the trial would be a force for unity.

''LEAST HE DESERVED'' ''This is the least Saddam deserved,'' said Ali al-Dabbagh, spokesman for the Shi'ite prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki.

At first the 69-year-old ousted president, who has defiantly justified killing and torturing Shi'ite opponents, refused to stand before the judge. Eventually he rose shakily to his feet in the dock to hear the verdict and sentence read out.

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