Saddam Demands Firing Squad, Not Hanging
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
Saddam Hussein claimed yesterday that he had been dragged from a hospital bed for his final scheduled appearance at his trial.
While the ex-Iraqi president might have been expected to be a little below par as he recovered from the effects of a hunger strike, he instead turned in a characteristically defiant performance, instructing the judge that as a general he should be shot by firing squad, rather than suffer the indignity of being hanged “like a common criminal.”
Saddam had refused food since July 7 to protest against the tribunal’s procedures and the death threats faced by his defense team, and was force-fed through an intravenous drip when he was admitted to the hospital on Sunday.
But court officials said he had finally broken his hunger strike yesterday with a meal of beef and rice with pita bread and a can of Coca-Cola.
Despite looking slightly haggard, he still made repeated verbal assaults against the court, chief judge, and others.
