By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Italy's premier condemned Wednesday the death sentence against Saddam Hussein, reiterating Italy's opposition to capital punishment while acknowledging that the ousted Iraqi leader had committed many crimes.
"While I don't want to minimize the crimes committed by Saddam Hussein, and the ferocity with which he governed during his regime, and while respecting the autonomy and legitimacy of Iraqi institutions, I must express the Italian government's - and my personal - firm opposition to the death sentence," Prodi said in a statement.
On Tuesday, Iraq's highest court rejected Saddam's appeal against a conviction and death sentence for the killing of 148 people in Dujail, in northern Iraq, in 1982. The court said the former president should be hanged within 30 days.