The Americans tried to postpone the Saddam’s death sentence by 144 days.

Mounir Haddad

Iraqi judge

Dubai —

According to an Iraqi judge, former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi at one time tried to bribe the United States to smuggle Saddam Hussein out of Baghdad.

In a sit-down interview with Al Arabiya’s Hassan Muawad, Iraqi judge Mounir Haddad made the claim and said “the Americans tried to postpone the Saddam’s death sentence by 144 days”.

Haddad was the superior judge of the Special Criminal Court known for sentencing the former Iraqi president to death in 2006. “Iraqi President Jalal Talabani had implicitly approved the execution of Saddam Hussein but he has no authority to amend or postpone the death sentence because the rules of international courts do not allow this.”

There was much criticism of Saddam’s execution that took place on Dec. 30, 2006, the first day of Eid Al-Adha that year. Haddad told Al Arabiya that Iraqi law did not allow the execution of a person during Eid, but that they “had an opinion that Saddam Hussein could have escaped from prison.” “Saddam’s trial was generally independent and was nominated by the Judicial Council,” Haddad said.

“There were 35 Baathists judges on Saddam’s trial.” Confessing at the same time that “many violations exist in the current regime as a result of the involvement of the former regime.” — Al Arabiya English