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IRAQ - Saddam Hussein said goodbye to two half-brothers yesterday in a rare prison meeting as he awaits execution, a lawyer said, while United States and Iraqi officials gave conflicting accounts of whether he would hang within days.
A senior Bush Administration official said the ousted President could go to the gallows as soon as Monday.
But Iraqi officials backed away from suggestions they would hang him within a month and a Cabinet minister said a week-long religious holiday would stall any execution.
"He was in very high spirits and clearly readying himself," said Badie Aref, a defence lawyer, after the 69-year-old former leader met half-brothers Watban and Sabawi, who are also both held at the US Army's Camp Cropper near Baghdad Airport.
"He told them he was happy he would meet his death at the hands of his enemies and be a martyr, not just languish in jail.
"He ... gave them letters to his family in anticipation."
The novelty of the US-sponsored process by which Saddam and his third half-brother Barzan, along with another senior member of the Baath Party, were condemned on November 5 has left considerable room for wrangling over the timing of any execution among rival factions and between Washington and Baghdad.
Battling to stave off all-out sectarian civil war, Shiite Prime Minister Nouri Maliki had said he wanted Saddam hanged this year for the killings, torture and other crimes against the Shiite population of the town of Dujail.
But some of Saddam's fellow Sunnis have warned this could reinforce their community's alienation and many ethnic Kurds want Saddam first convicted of genocide against them.
Iraq's Saddam-era penal code bars executions on religious holidays. Eid al-Adha, coinciding with the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, runs from today until work resumes on January 7.
Nonetheless, the US official said: "I've heard that it's going to be a couple more days, probably."
A US military spokesman in Baghdad confirmed that Saddam was still being held at a US-run prison but said any change in that status could be kept secret for security reasons.
Americans are concerned about Iraqi treatment of prisoners and are likely to keep a tight control of the process before the execution to avoid the public spectacle some Iraqis want.
The Iraqi minister said: "There is a debate over whether the President's signature is needed. Some insist the next step should be the President's signature. Others say it's not needed.
"The clock is ticking but Saddam is not just any old guy," he said. "There are procedures to be followed. Now it's Eid and the Hajj and it will take time to carry out the sentence."
Deputy Justice Minister Bosho Ibrahim said the execution would happen within 30 days only if Iraq's President issued a decree ordering an immediate execution. If he does not do so in that time the Justice Ministry can carry out the sentence when it chooses.
President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, has refused to sign death warrants in other cases but has delegated his powers to his Shiite and Sunni Vice-Presidents. Both the constitution and High Tribunal statutes deny the presidency the power to block executions ordered for such serious crimes.
- REUTERS
