IRAQ SPEAKER JOINS FOES OF EXECUTION

the Iraqi parliament speaker joined opponents of executing a Saddam Hussein-era defence minister convicted of genocide against Kurds, saying that sending him to the gallows would set a dangerous precedent for the armed forces. Mahmoud al-Mashhadani's objection to the execution of Sultan Hashim Ahmed al-Tai likely will deepen what is fast becoming a heated political fight. "I am entirely against it," al-Mashhadani said on Iraq's Al-Sharqiya television, which interviewed him in Damascus, Syria. "I am even against him being held to account." He said hanging al-Tai would force serving army officers to question their orders out of fear that they might be held to account after a regime change. "This will create an army of mutineers," he said. "Army officers must be treated as professionals and not held to account by the political decisions of their leaders." President Jalal Talabani, himself a Kurd, earlier declared his opposition to the execution, arguing that al-Tai had to carry out orders to crack down on Kurds or face a certain death. Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, a Sunni Arab like al-Mashhadani, added to the debate this week by saying Iraq's presidential council has the constitutional authority to block the execution — a position disputed by the court that imposed the death sentence.