Speculation, secrecy shrouds Saddam's final hours

BAGHDAD, Dec 29 (Reuters) As he awaits his final hour in a dreary, US military-run prison down the street from one of his former palaces, confusion and secrecy shroud when and how Saddam Hussein will be hanged.

A court this week upheld a sentence that the man who ruled Iraq with an iron fist for three decades until he was ousted by a US invasion in 2003 be sent to the gallows for crimes against humanity.

But speculation over the timing of the historic execution is mounting by the hour. An appellate judge has said it should be carried out within 30 days, but U.S. and Iraqi officials have given conflicting indications over when it would happen.

As Iraq prepared to start a week-long religious holiday tomorrow that should halt any execution under the penal code, US-backed al Hurra television quoted unnamed sources as saying workers were busy erecting the gallows in the Green Zone government citadel by the Tigris.

Lawyers said they had been told to collect Saddam's belongings and that Saddam was allowed a visit by his brothers yesterday -- a right a condemned man has before he is hanged.

Another lawyer said prison guards had taken away a small radio Saddam had been given several months ago and that the former strongman had sensed ''something was happening.'' Saddam, who has said he is not afraid to die, was reported by his lawyer to be in ''very high spirits'' as he awaits his appointment with the hangman at the U.S. army's Camp Cropper at what was once Baghdad's Saddam International Airport.

The prison is down the street from a lavish palace Saddam built on an artificial lake which is now used as headquarters by US generals.

Although US troops are physically keeping guard over Saddam, he is to be hanged by Iraqis. For fear that enemies of the former strongman could turn the execution into a public spectacle, US troops are likely to stay at hand throughout.

Not only the date, but the exact hour of the hanging is also a mystery. Executions since the death penalty was reinstated in Iraq have taken place at dawn but there is also speculation Saddam's could be at noon, or rushed through at any time.

In court, Saddam has appeared wearing a white shirt and dark suit, his hair neatly trimmed and dyed black, a far cry from his dishevelled appearance when he was captured by US troops in December 2003, hiding in a hole near Tikrit.

If he is treated like other convicts, he could be hooded and dressed in green overalls with his hands bound behind his back.

Under Iraq's penal code, Saddam will be allowed to make a final statement if he wishes.

While a public execution is unlikely, Iraqis are likely to want proof that he is really dead, as when US forces published graphic images of his dead sons and showed the bodies to journalists after they were killed in July 2003.

REUTERS LL RK2335