EU TELLS IRAQ THAT DEATH PENALTY BAN WILL BE PART OF TALKS ON TRADE AND COOPERATION PACT

European Union officials told Iraq that it would seek commitments on human rights standards, including a ban on capital punishment, during negotiations on a trade and aid pact.
"The human rights issue is of course something that will be tackled and will be in the agreement," said EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner.
The 25-nation EU welcomed the guilty verdict against Iraq's former leader Saddam Hussein, but had appealed to Iraqi authorities not to carry out the death penalty against him. "We felt that it was absolutely right that the Iraqi people themselves judge Saddam Hussein, but as a matter of principle we are against the death penalty wherever this is being applied," Ferrero-Waldner told reporters.