Namibians condemn Saddam’s execution

SADDAM Hussein should not have been hanged, according to several Namibian institutions.

The former dictator of Iraq was hanged on December 30, 2006 and besides the official video recording of the execution, it was also filmed by a security guard with his mobile phone and all the grim details were available on the Internet the next day. In Namibia, the opposition Congress of Democrats (CoD), which is totally opposed to the death penalty, said it found the execution of Saddam wrong.”We cannot condone hanging him, although we do not condone Saddam’s crimes,” CoD Vice President Nora Schimming-Chase told The Namibian on Monday.”The way the hanging was carried out makes the perpetrators as bad as Saddam was – it could lead to revenge actions from the former dictator’s followers,” Schimming-Chase added.”We are against the death penalty, which has been outlawed by the majority of civilised countries across the world,” said human rights lawyer Norman Tjombe, Director of the Legal Assistance Centre, when approached for comment.Tjombe is also the current Chairman of Nangof, the Namibian National Forum of Non-Governmental Organisations.”A country such as Iraq, being brutally devastated by years of terrible dictatorship, and where the wanton killings of human beings are now almost an hourly event, executing people does not augur well for the rebuilding of Iraq,” Tjombe added.”The state of Iraq must show the way by respecting the lives and dignity of its people – even if they were despicable people like Saddam Hussein.By authorising the killing of its own people, the state of Iraq only encourages the further disrespect for the lives and dignity of its people, which is apparent in the hundreds of people that are blown up in Iraq,” Tjombe said.”Every day people lose their lives in that country through bombing and fighting.”The National Society for Human Rights (NSHR), which was the only Namibian organisation to publicly condemn the death sentence last year when the ruling was made, said the execution of Saddam Hussein was “disgusting”.”No human being deserves a death sentence, never mind how big the crimes are that were committed,” NSHR Executive Director Phil ya Nangoloh told The Namibian.The General Secretary of the Council of Churches of Namibia (CCN), Reverend Philip Strydom, held a similar view.”The Church is totally against a death sentence against a human being, it does not matter who or where,” Strydom said.”The Namibian Constitution also forbids the death sentence.However, the world seems to be changing towards jungle justice.Saddam’s execution does not correct any of the wrongs, it just made him a martyr in the eyes of his followers.The sanctity of life is also very important – a person is never too bad to change for the better,” Strydom said.He also pointed out that the United Nations did not prescribe the death sentence for war criminals.Two men who were present at Saddam’s execution and are suspected of having filmed the hanging have been arrested.Two more functionaries of the former Saddam regime are still awaiting execution.They are Bassan al-Tikriti, a half-brother of Saddam Hussein, and Awadal-Bandar, the former Appeal Judge.The newly sworn-in UN General Secretary Ban Ki Moon has called on the Iraqi government to refrain from hanging the two.In Namibia, the opposition Congress of Democrats (CoD), which is totally opposed to the death penalty, said it found the execution of Saddam wrong.”We cannot condone hanging him, although we do not condone Saddam’s crimes,” CoD Vice President Nora Schimming-Chase told The Namibian on Monday.”The way the hanging was carried out makes the perpetrators as bad as Saddam was – it could lead to revenge actions from the former dictator’s followers,” Schimming-Chase added. “We are against the death penalty, which has been outlawed by the majority of civilised countries across the world,” said human rights lawyer Norman Tjombe, Director of the Legal Assistance Centre, when approached for comment.Tjombe is also the current Chairman of Nangof, the Namibian National Forum of Non-Governmental Organisations.”A country such as Iraq, being brutally devastated by years of terrible dictatorship, and where the wanton killings of human beings are now almost an hourly event, executing people does not augur well for the rebuilding of Iraq,” Tjombe added.”The state of Iraq must show the way by respecting the lives and dignity of its people – even if they were despicable people like Saddam Hussein.By authorising the killing of its own people, the state of Iraq only encourages the further disrespect for the lives and dignity of its people, which is apparent in the hundreds of people that are blown up in Iraq,” Tjombe said.”Every day people lose their lives in that country through bombing and fighting.”The National Society for Human Rights (NSHR), which was the only Namibian organisation to publicly condemn the death sentence last year when the ruling was made, said the execution of Saddam Hussein was “disgusting”.”No human being deserves a death sentence, never mind how big the crimes are that were committed,” NSHR Executive Director Phil ya Nangoloh told The Namibian.The General Secretary of the Council of Churches of Namibia (CCN), Reverend Philip Strydom, held a similar view.”The Church is totally against a death sentence against a human being, it does not matter who or where,” Strydom said.”The Namibian Constitution also forbids the death sentence.However, the world seems to be changing towards jungle justice.Saddam’s execution does not correct any of the wrongs, it just made him a martyr in the eyes of his followers.The sanctity of life is also very important – a person is never too bad to change for the better,” Strydom said.He also pointed out that the United Nations did not prescribe the death sentence for war criminals.Two men who were present at Saddam’s execution and are suspected of having filmed the hanging have been arrested.Two more functionaries of the former Saddam regime are still awaiting execution.They are Bassan al-Tikriti, a half-brother of Saddam Hussein, and Awadal-Bandar, the former Appeal Judge.The newly sworn-in UN General Secretary Ban Ki Moon has called on the Iraqi government to refrain from hanging the two.