The new pres­i­dent of Iraq, Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani (pic­tured), recent­ly voiced his con­cerns about the death penal­ty, even for those accused of war crimes like Saddam Hussein. ​“I am among the lawyers who signed an inter­na­tion­al peti­tion against the death penal­ty in the world and it would be [a] prob­lem for me if Iraqi courts issued death sen­tences,” Talabini said when asked about the fate of Hussein, who is in U.S. cus­tody in Iraq await­ing tri­al for war crimes and crimes against human­i­ty. Kurds were among the com­mu­ni­ties who suf­fered the most under the dic­ta­tor­ship of Saddam. Under cur­rent law, the for­mer Iraqi leader could face the death penalty. 

(Agence France Presse, April 11, 2005). See New Voices and International Death Penalty.

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