RUSSIAN MUSLIMS CONDEMN DEATH SENTENCE FOR SADDAM HUSSEIN

Russian Muslims joined ultranationalist lawmaker Vladimir Zhirinovsky in condemning the death sentence of former Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein, saying his execution could destabilize the Muslim world.
The flamboyant Zhirinovsky, who heads the ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR), characterized the verdict as "a game" played by the United States.
"What are they doing with Saddam Hussein? They hide him, they put him on show, they punish him... It's a travesty," Zhirinovsky said at a news conference. "It's meant once again to humiliate the Islamic world, to humiliate their leaders."
"Why is only Saddam Hussein called a tyrant? Because there's oil there ... He had all the oil he wanted," Zhirinovsky said.
Kamilzhan Kalandarov, a Sunni Moslem who leads the interethnic relations committee of the Public Chamber, a state-sponsored civil society body, added his warning that executing Hussein could destabilize the Muslim world.
"If Saddam Hussein is hung, then all his crimes, or all his mistakes to put it more mildly, will be nothing in comparison with the consequences that await us, that await the entire Muslim world," Kalandarov said.
He added his doubt that Hussein would be executed, saying: "To make Saddam Hussein into a martyr for faith ... isn't in the interests of the United States."