{"page":"\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/resources-572d6a42.css\" /\u003e\n\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/lp_boclips_stylesheets-f4d0de30.css\" media=\"all\" /\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-title='Human Rights Watch spokesp. comments on Saddam death penalty' data-url='/boclips/videos/5c54beafd8eafeecae13d865' data-video-url='/boclips/videos/5c54beafd8eafeecae13d865' id='bo_player_modal'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='boclips-resource-page modal-dialog panel-container'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='react-notifications-root'\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-header'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-type'\u003e\n\u003ci aria-hidden='true' class='fai fa-regular fa-circle-play'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\nVideo\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ch1 class='rp-title' id='video-title'\u003e\nHuman Rights Watch spokesp. comments on Saddam death penalty\n\u003c/h1\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-actions'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='mr-1'\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"btn btn-success\" data-posthog-event=\"Signup: LP Signup Activity\" data-posthog-location=\"body_link_boclips\" data-remote=\"true\" href=\"/subscription/new\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGet Free Access\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"\"\u003e for 10 Days\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e!\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-body'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-info'\u003e\n\u003cdiv aria-label='Hide resource details' class='rp-hide-info' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u0026times;\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Expand resource details' class='rp-expand-info fai fa-solid fa-up-right-and-down-left-from-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Compress resource details' class='rp-compress-info fai fa-solid fa-down-left-and-up-right-to-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-rating'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='resource-pool'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-label'\u003ePublisher:\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-name'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='text'\u003e\u003ca data-publisher-id=\"30356011\" href=\"/search?publisher_ids%5B%5D=30356011\"\u003eCurated Video\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-description'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='short-description'\u003e1. Mid of Human Rights Watch Director of International Justice, Richard Dicker, walking down corridor2. Set-up shot of Dicker talking to reporter3. SOUNDBITE  (English) Richard Dicker, Director of International Justice Program for Human...\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='full-description hide'\u003e1. Mid of Human Rights Watch Director of International Justice, Richard Dicker, walking down corridor\u003cbr/\u003e2. Set-up shot of Dicker talking to reporter\u003cbr/\u003e3. SOUNDBITE  (English) Richard Dicker, Director of International Justice Program for Human Rights Watch:\u003cbr/\u003e\"Speaking from a human rights perspective, certainly the death penalty is a cause of great concern to us because regardless of the crime and regardless of the convicted person, the death penalty constitutes cruel and inhuman punishment and really the true test of respect for human rights comes when the human rights of someone who has violated in unspeakable ways the human rights of many (m) millions of people comes into play and that's why we are opposed in principle to the execution of Saddam.\"\u003cbr/\u003e4. Cutaway Dicker's hands\u003cbr/\u003e5. SOUNDBITE  (English)  Richard Dicker, Director of International Justice Program for Human Rights Watch:\u003cbr/\u003e\"The tribunal the US government brought into being, I think was ill-suited for the tasks and the difficult terrain it had to operate on and I think the result is a lost opportunity in creating that kind of historical record of individual responsibility for unspeakable crimes, so that's my charge as to the Bush administration.\"\u003cbr/\u003e6. Cutaway Dicker's hands\u003cbr/\u003e7. SOUNDBITE (English)  Richard Dicker, Director of International Justice Program for Human Rights Watch:\u003cbr/\u003e\"We think that a term of life imprisonment with no possibility for parole would be a much better and much smarter step for the Iraqi government and I say that because our concern is that if they go forward and execute Saddam then really the message that's sent is that's it's business as usual when it comes to dealing with opponents of the regime and Saddam Hussein put to death countless thousands by hanging.  To do the same to him I don't think will be helpful in building respect for human rights and respect for the rule of law in a future Iraq.\"\u003cbr/\u003e8. Mid shot Dicker talking to reporter\u003cbr/\u003e9. SOUNDBITE (English) Richard Dicker, Director of International Justice Program for Human Rights Watch:\u003cbr/\u003e\"Really I think this trial has to stand the test of time.  It has to be able to be a reference point for the future to indicate in indisputable way, the way the Nuremburg trials did, what happened and who was responsible.  I think the problem with the lack of fairness in the trial and the moves to execution is that it will ensure that this tribunal, the trial itself, and the verdict will not withstand close scrutiny by history, thus depriving not only Iraqis, but the international community as a whole, of an indisputable reference point for what happened and who was responsible.\"\u003cbr/\u003e10. Pull out Dicker walking down corridor\u003cbr/\u003eThe international watchdog organisation, Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday it didn't believe the Iraqi government should execute Saddam Hussein because the tribunal that prosecuted him was \"ill-suited for the tasks and the difficult terrain it had to operate on.\"\u003cbr/\u003eIn an interview with the Associated Press, Richard Dicker, the group's Director of International Justice, said although they found Saddam Hussein to be an unspeakable human rights violator, the the death penalty was inappropriate in any case.\u003cbr/\u003e\"Certainly the death penalty is a cause of great concern to us because regardless of the crime and regardless of the convicted person, the death penalty constitutes cruel and inhuman punishment and really the true test of respect for human rights comes when the human rights of someone who has violated in unspeakable ways the human rights of many millions of people comes into play and that's why we are opposed in principle to the execution of Saddam,\" said Dicker.\u003cbr/\u003eDicker said the United States government's insistence that the trial be carried out by an exclusively Iraqi court, instead of an international body, contributed to the tribunal's shortcomings.\u003cbr/\u003e\"The tribunal the US government brought into being, I think was ill-suited for the tasks and the difficult terrain it had to operate on and I think the result is a lost opportunity in creating that kind of historical record of individual responsibility for unspeakable crimes, so that's my charge as to the Bush administration,\" Dicker said.\u003cbr/\u003eHe added that life imprisonment with no possibility of parole would be \"a much better and much smarter step for the Iraqi government\" and would send a more positive message to the Iraqi people.\u003cbr/\u003e\"I say that because our concern is that if they go forward and execute Saddam, then really the message that's sent is that's it's business as usual when it comes to dealing with opponents of the regime and Saddam Hussein put to death countless thousands by hanging,\" he said. \u003cbr/\u003e\"To do the same to him I don't think will be helpful in building respect for human rights and respect for the rule of law in a future Iraq.\"\u003cbr/\u003eIraq's highest court rejected Saddam Hussein's appeal on Tuesday and said the former dictator must be hanged within 30 days for ordering the killing of scores of Shiite Muslims in 1982.\u003cbr/\u003eThe Supreme Court of Appeals also confirmed death sentences for his two co-defendants, including his half brother and it said life imprisonment for a third was too lenient and demanded he be executed too.\u003cbr/\u003eAt his trial, Saddam argued that the Dujail residents who were killed had been convicted in a legitimate Iraqi court for trying to assassinate him.\u003cbr/\u003eSaddam's televised trial was watched throughout Iraq and the Middle East as much for theatre as for substance. 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