Britain tried to stop Saddam hanging, letter shows

LONDON, Jan 12: Britain tried to prevent the execution of Saddam Hussein, appealing to the Iraqi government right up to the eve of the former dictator's hanging, Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett wrote.

In a letter to Labour MP Andrew Mackinlay, she said Britain had pressed its case many times, adding: ''This included lobbying at the highest level in Baghdad on 29 December.'' The ousted Iraqi leader was hanged the following day, his chaotic execution secretly recorded in footage which showed observers taunting Saddam with shouts of ''Go to hell'' and chanting the name of a Shi'ite cleric.

Both the execution and the way it was conducted have caused embarrassment to the British government.

After pressure to speak out publicly against it, British Prime Minister Tony Blair broke his silence only on Wednesday, calling the manner of Saddam's death ''unacceptable'' and ''wrong''.

After the execution Margaret Beckett said Saddam had been ''held to account''.

But in her letter to Mackinlay she wrote: ''I can reassure you that the British government repeatedly made clear to the Iraqi government its opposition to the death penalty in all cases.'' She concluded: ''We continue to urge the Iraqi authorities to abolish the death penalty.'' Giving evidence to a parliamentary foreign affairs and defence committee yesterday, Beckett said Saddam's execution had not had severe repercussions in Iraq.

''There are sectors of the community which have reacted strongly and (where) people are very unhappy about it. But actually there is not strong evidence that it has caused a huge problem across the board,'' she said.

Reuters