saddam hussain

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is the death sentence justified or is it jaz another case of merican dominance over the world . do post ur views Shia and Sunni Muslims in Uttar Pradesh - as perhaps in the rest of the country - stand divided on the death sentence awarded to ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. While leading Shia scholars and clerics see the verdict as divine retribution for a man who is accused of killing Shias when he ruled Iraq, their Sunni counterparts condemn Sunday's ruling as an American design. Protest demonstrations have been organised in a few cities of the state, which is the country’s most populous Muslim state. Around 30 million of the country’s estimated 140 million Muslims reside here. Maulana Kalbe Sadiq, a Shia scholar and senior vice president of the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board, declared on Monday: "Saddam Hussein was responsible for the brutal massacre of hundreds of thousands of Shia Muslims in Iraq. Even a hundred death sentences would not be enough for him." Maulana Mirza Mohammad Athar, who heads the newly formed All-India Shia Personal Law Board, also came out in support of the Iraqi court verdict. "A tyrant must be punished for his tyranny," he told journalists. Asked if he was happy, Maulana Athar shot back: "This is not an issue over which one can be happy or unhappy. All I can say is that the man has met his nemesis, that's all." Sunni religious heads hold a diametrically opposite view and blamed it all on the US. "It is not a court verdict; it simply demonstrates the high-handedness of the President George Bush who had personal scores to settle with Saddam Hussein," Maulana Khalid Rasheed, the Naib Imam of Lucknow and head of Firangi Mahal, an internationally acclaimed Islamic institution here, said. Maulana Rasheed pointed out: "After all, Bush's repeated allegations that Saddam was secretly holding on to weapons of mass destruction turned out to be baseless and false." All-India Muslim Personal Law Board legal adviser Zafaryab Jilani agreed with Maulana Rasheed. "This is not a judgement from an independent court. It is clearly a pre-determined dictat from Washington. We strongly oppose this," he told reporters. "After all Saddam was targeted by the US simply because he refused to be their tool." All India Muslim Women's Law Board chief Shaista Ambar too denounced the death sentence. "The whole exercise was a farce and carried out under US pressure. It is time the Indian government condemns the decision." Ambar staged a symbolic protest demonstration before the Uttar Pradesh assembly here Monday. An Iraqi court set up by the US Sunday sentenced Saddam Hussein to death for "crimes against humanity" along with his half brother Harzan al-Tikrit and former judge Awad al-Bander. They were all accused of killing, torturing and deporting hundreds of people from a Shia town after a failed assassination attempt against Saddam Hussein in 1982.