GERMANY UNDERLINES EU OPPOSITION TO DEATH PENALTY BEFORE IRAQ EXECUTIONS

the European Union's current leader, Germany, stressed the EU's opposition to the death penalty before Iraq's planned execution of two of Saddam Hussein's co-defendants. The Iraqi government had insisted that it would go ahead with the executions, despite calls from the United Nations that it refrain. EU opposed the death penalty "under any circumstances."
"In the concrete context of the case of the two men whose execution has been announced, we would of course like these executions to be stayed," Jaeger told a regular news conference.
A German government statement, in the name of the EU presidency, said Iraq needed to punish crimes committed under Saddam's regime while bringing together the country's feuding Sunni and Shiite communities. It called on the Iraqi government to "adhere to the requirements of a fair process."