The prosecutor in the Saddam Hussein trial demanded the death penalty Monday for the ousted leader and two of his top co-defendendants. Chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Moussawi said in closing arguments that the former Iraqi president and his regime committed crimes against humanity in a "revenge" attack on Shiite civilians in the 1980s.
The arguments brought the eight-month-old trial into its final phase. After Monday's session, the court adjourned until July 10, when the defense will start making its final summation.
Concluding his remarks, al-Moussawi asked for the death penalty against Saddam, his half-brother Barzan Ibrahim and Taha Yassin Ramadan, a former senior regime member. "They were spreading corruption on earth ... and even the trees was not save from their oppression," he said.
"Well done," Saddam muttered sarcastically, according to the AP.
"In the next session (on July 10), we will hear the defence team," chief judge Rauf Abdel Rahman said at the start of the session, warning defendants and their lawyers not to "interrupt the proceedings".
