IRAQ: CHEMICAL ALI EXECUTION "MUST HAVE PRESIDENTIAL DECREE", SAYS COUNCIL

Iraq's National Legal Consultation Council said that it was not legal to execute Saddam Hussein's close aides, including the dictator's cousin so-called 'Chemical Ali,' without a presidential decree. This announcement, reported by Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency, was made by Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi's office a day after Iraq's appeals court upheld death sentences on three former government officials. Al-Hashemi's office said the vice president requested a legal opinion from the council on the necessity of the President's signature. Iraq's Kurdish President Jalal Talabani is openly against the death sentence. Before Saddam Hussein was sent to the gallows, Talabani refused to give written approval for the execution.