(Agencies)- - Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, insisted that it was up to Iraqis to decide the fate of the former Baath party leader.
She said during a television interview on Monday: "This is not something for Americans or, frankly, Europeans to comment on. I think this is something for Iraqis to decide."
The Iraqi High Tribunal, funded and advised by the US government, found Saddam guilty of crimes against humanity for the killing of 148 Shia civilians in revenge for a 1982 attempt on Saddam's life.
Rice spoke after Tony Blair, the British prime minister, reaffirmed his opposition to the death penalty for "Saddam or anybody else".
Massimo D'Alema, the Italian foreign minister, described the sentence as unacceptable.
D'Alema said his government, along with the rest of the European Union, opposed the death penalty in principle and feared that executing Saddam would plunge an already deeply divided Iraq "into a veritable civil war".
Irrelevant
Saddam's death sentence was also condemned by the European Union presidency, the Vatican, Russia and human rights groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
Rice said Europe's stance against capital punishment was "long-standing" and irrelevant to Saddam's case.
She said on Fox News television: "This is an Iraqi process, not an American process or an international process."
In a unanimous decision by the tribunal's five judges, Saddam and two co-defendants were sentenced to death by hanging.
Another defendant was sentenced to life in prison and three others to 15-year jail terms.
Source: aljazeera.net
The United Arab Emirates acknowledged on Tuesday that two of its pilots were killed when their military aggression plane crashed over Jawf province, a military official said
The official added that the aggressive crashed plane was an apache that was
Artillery of the army and popular shelled a gathering of Saudi-paid mercenaries in al-Moqadra area in Serwah district of Marib province, a military official said on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, dozens of Saudi-paid mercenaries were killed and others injured in Wadi al-Theek in the district, the official added.
The army and popular forces carried out on Monday unique military operations in Taiz province.
A military official said that a number of Saudi-paid mercenaries were killed at the hands of the army and popular forces in al-Jazami Hill in al-Kadaha area in al-Ma'afer district.
A Saudi aggression fighter jet targeted a citizen's car driving in Fara area of Kutaf district in Saada province overnight, killing the driver and injuring his friend, a security official said on Monday.
The army artillery and popular committees launched a fierce attack on Saudi-paid mercenaries' sites in Jawf province, a military official said on Monday.
The attack destroyed a military vehicle belonging to the mercenaries and killed all on board in Sabran area in khab and shaaf district.
Scores of Saudi enemy soldiers were killed and injured on Sunday when the army and popular forces repelled a Saudi military attempt to sneak into Shurfah site in the border province of Najran, a military official said.
The operation was accomplished successfully against the Saudi
The army and popular committees have killed a total of 18 Saudi-paid mercenaries in sniper operations over the past hours in the central province of Marib, a military official said on Sunday.
Ten mercenaries were killed in Nehm district and eight others were killed in Serwah district, said the official.
Saudi aggression warplanes have launched more than 49 airstrikes over the past hours on several residential areas across Yemen, a security official said on Sunday.
The airstrikes targeted the areas of Malahiz and Husama in Dhahir district, and areas Thuban, Masahif and Sdad in Bakim district of northern Saada province.
US rejects criticism of Saddam penalty
