US AND IRAQ AGREE TO DROP EXECUTION OF SADDAM'S DEFENCE MINISTER

the United States and Iraq agreed to drop the death sentence against Saddam Hussein's last defence minister, Sultan Hashim, the Dubai-based al-Arabya television channel cited unnamed sources as saying. During the past few weeks, reports had said that the three would face the gallows immediately following Ramadan. The pending hanging of Sultan, now in US custody, has sparked public disapproval by Iraq's President Jalal Talabani and Vice- President Tariq al-Hashimi. The Shiite spiritual leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has also called on Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to drop the death sentence against Sultan, the pan-Arab newspaper al-Hayat reported on Sunday. Many Iraqis are concerned the hanging of Sultan, a respected Sunni soldier, could disrupt an already shaky reconciliation attempt in a deeply divided country. If the US military hands Sultan over for execution, the move would contradict guarantees of safety given to the general when he voluntarily surrendered himself to the US army in 2003.