An Iraqi judge postponed sentencing for Saddam Hussein's vice president because lawyers for relatives and victims of the crimes failed to show up on Thursday. Taha Yassin Ramadan is expected to be executed. The court had been expected to raise the sentence after an appeals court ruled that Ramadan's previous sentence of life in prison was too lenient.
According to the AP, judge Ali al-Kahishi said the session would be adjourned until Feb. 12, "because the plaintiff lawyers are not present in the court because they were not notified."
Ramadan was convicted along with Saddam and five others for ordering the killing of Shiites in the town of Dujail, north of Baghdad, following an assassination attempt there against Saddam 25 years ago.
On Nov. 5, Ramadan was convicted of murder, forced deportation and torture and sentenced to life in prison sentenced to life in prison. A month later, the appeals court said the sentence was too lenient, and returned his case to the High Tribunal, demanding he be sentenced to death. The court agreed to turn it to a death sentence.
