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Iraq Confirms Death Sentence on Saddam Aide | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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BAGHDAD (AFP) – An Iraqi appeals panel has confirmed the death sentence on Taha Yassin Ramadan, who served as vice president to executed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, officials said on Thursday.

Ramadan was sentenced to death on February 12 for crimes against humanity by the Iraqi High Tribunal which is trying former regime officials.

His sentence was automatically reviewed by the appeals panel which on Thursday confirmed the execution by hanging.

“Yesterday, all the members of the appeals court ratified the death sentence on Taha Yassin Ramadan,” Judge Munir Haddad of the appeals panel told a press conference.

“He can be hanged at any moment but the official period is that the sentence be carried out within 30 days of it being confirmed by the appeals court.”

A senior Iraqi official told AFP that Ramadan is likely to be hanged by the end of this month.

Ramadan was originally given a life sentence for his role in the killing of 148 Shiites from the village of Dujail after an attempt on Saddam’s life in 1982.

But the prosecution filed a petition demanding he also be hanged.

Saddam and two other former aides, Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti and Awad Ahmed al-Bandar, have all been hanged for crimes against humanity linked to the Dujail killings.

The former dictator was executed on December 30 while Barzan and Bandar were hanged on January 15.