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Saddam deputy loses final appeal Saddam deputy loses final appeal
(30 minutes later)
Former Iraqi Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan has lost his appeal against a death sentence for killing Shia Muslims in the 1980s.Former Iraqi Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan has lost his appeal against a death sentence for killing Shia Muslims in the 1980s.
Ramadan was sentenced to hang after an appeal by the Iraqi High Tribunal, which previously jailed him for life.Ramadan was sentenced to hang after an appeal by the Iraqi High Tribunal, which previously jailed him for life.
He was tried alongside former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein over the killing of 148 Shias in the village of Dujail.He was tried alongside former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein over the killing of 148 Shias in the village of Dujail.
Under Iraqi law he must follow Saddam Hussein to the gallows within 30 days of the appeals process being exhausted.Under Iraqi law he must follow Saddam Hussein to the gallows within 30 days of the appeals process being exhausted.
Taha Yassin Ramadan maintained his innocence throughout his trial, insisting his duties had not included security issues.
"God knows I didn't do anything wrong," Reuters news agency reported him as saying shortly before the judge sentenced him to death on 12 February.
TAHA YASSIN RAMADAN Born to peasant family near Mosul, northern IraqTook part in 1968 coup that put Baath party into power Became vice president in 1991 Questions over Iraq hangings Ramadan profile
Saddam and two of his co-defendants, his half brother and former intelligence chief Barzan al-Tikriti, and former revolutionary court head Awad al-Bandar, were executed in December and January.
"Yesterday, all the members of the appeals court ratified the death sentence on Taha Yassin Ramadan," said Judge Munir Haddad of the nine-judge appeals panel.
'Too lenient'
Human rights groups had urged the judges to commute the sentence, saying there was insufficient evidence for capital punishment.
Last November, the special tribunal handed down a sentence of life imprisonment, but an appeals court ruled this was too lenient.
The whole process of trying members of the former regime has been beset by controversy, over the handling of the trial, the verdicts and the way the death sentences have been carried out.
Saddam died as sectarian taunts were hurled at him by witnesses, while miscalculation by the executioners caused Barzan's head to become separated from his body.
Former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark, who sat through the trial proceedings, called them a "travesty".
Saddam Hussein's defence team had also accused the government of interfering in the proceedings - a complaint backed by US group Human Rights Watch.