Reply #8: Mr Talabani, also told the BBC he would not sign a death warrant [View All]

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Mr Talabani, a Kurd, also told the BBC he would not sign a death warrant for captured former leader Saddam Hussein. And he warned that any attempt to impose an Islamic government on Iraq would break up the country.

He said the Shia religious parties with whom the Kurds have struck a partnership to underpin the new government have agreed to a compromise whereby Islam will be one of several sources for Iraqi law.

'I won't sign'

If Saddam Hussein is to go to the gallows, as many of his erstwhile foes insist he must, his death sentence will have to be endorsed by the new Iraqi presidency.
We cannot wait for years and years of terrorist activity because we haven't enough government forces

But Mr Talabani, a lawyer and human rights advocate who has always opposed capital punishment, made it clear that his principles would not allow him to sign such a document, despite all the suffering the Baathist regime had inflicted on his Kurdish community. "Personally, no, I won't sign," he said. "But you know, the presidency of Iraq are three people. These three must decide. So I can be absent. I can go on holiday and let the two others decide."
Mr Talabani said all other members of the new Iraqi leadership were in favour of a swift execution for the former Iraqi dictator.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4454985.stm