Hanging Saddam "barbaric" - top EU official

BRUSSELS, Dec 30 (Reuters) Hanging former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was ''barbaric'' and may turn him into a martyr, the European Union's aid and development Commissioner told Reuters today.

Saddam, who had been convicted of crimes against humanity, was hanged at dawn in the Iraqi capital.

''You don't fight barbarism with acts that I deem as barbaric. The death penalty is not compatible with democracy,'' Louis Michel told Reuters.

''Unfortunately Saddam Hussein risks to appear as a martyr, and he does not deserve that. He is not a martyr, he committed the worse things,'' Michel said in a phone interview.

''The death penalty is against the values of the European Union ... we are against by principle, whatever the crimes committed by Saddam Hussein - and he committed horrible ones,'' Michel said.

REUTERS AKJ DS1430