JURIST - Paper Chase: Iraq president sticks by refusal to sign any Saddam death order

[JURIST] Iraqi President Jalal Talabani [BBC profile] has said once again that he will not sign any eventual warrant for the execution of ousted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, and would quit instead. During an interview on al-Arabiya TV, he insisted in a clip released Sunday in advance of broadcast: "I am a man of principles. I cannot forego my principles for the sake of my post. If there is a clash between the post and the principles, I will give up the post and keep the principles." Talabani, a Sunni Kurd lawyer who has opposed the death penalty, was severely criticized in April when he first indicated that he would not authorize an execution of Hussein [JURIST report]. Earlier this month he declined to personally sign death warrants for the execution of three minor prisoners, the first individuals sentenced to death in Iraq under the new regime, but allowed his deputy to go ahead and sanction the killings [JURIST report]. AFP has more.

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