Saddam execution: No Govt. comment

As the execution of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein yesterday was met with mixed global reactions, Sri Lanka, which held close and warm diplomatic ties with Iraq prior to the US invasion in March 2003, made no official comment.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman said they had no comment to make about the execution. However, ruling party politicians, expressing their personal views, condemned the execution. Hussein Bhaila denounced the hanging as he felt it offended Muslims around the world at the start of Eid al-Adha, the Islamic world's holiest holiday, marking the end of the hajj, the Muslim pilgrimage to Makkah.

''As a Muslim, I feel the execution could have been avoided,'' Minister Hussein Bhaila told the Associated Press news service. He, however, declined to comment on the judgment against the former president.

When The Sunday Times contacted Minister Ferial Ashraff, she said she was against the execution. She, however, added her comments were her personal opinion. “I don not know how this will impact the Muslims in Sri Lanka. My personal opinion is that this shouldn’t have been done,” she said. Justice Minister Amarasiri Dodangoda said this was a politically-motivated execution and was likely to draw a strong reaction from all anti-imperial forces in the country.

Presidential advisor A.H.M. Azwar said that despite the ouster of Saddam Hussein, Iraqi’s were still suffering. “Iraqi’s should have decided their own destiny. External powers should not be allowed to decide the fate of other countries,” he said.

During the reign of Saddam Hussein, Iraq was Sri Lanka’s largest tea buyer and a close friend. The Saddam Hussein regime build a village consisting of hundred houses, a school and a mosque, in the aftermath of the 1978 floods. The village was named Saddam Hussein Nagar.

M.B.M. Rizvie, Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Sri Lanka, said that the council had requested all mosques to conduct special Janaza prayers in memory of Saddam Hussein after today’s festival prayers.

Mr. Rizvie said it had been an appalling decision to execute Saddam on a day when the whole Muslim world started to celebrate the holy festival.

See full report in ST International