Iran's reformist President Mohammad Khatami voiced...

Iran's reformist President Mohammad Khatami voiced his opposition to the death penalty, adding that he did not even wish for the execution of captured ex-Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
"I don't like the death penalty, although if there is one case where there should be an execution, the fairest case would be for Saddam. But I would never wish for that," the president told reporters.
"If there is a way for a criminal to have a way out of it, I would not insist on his execution," he added, saying "I hope that he will have a fair trial and that he will have a fair verdict."
Khatami's comments are believed to be the first time the mid-ranking cleric has voiced his unease with the death penalty, which is liberally handed down by the Islamic republic's hardline-controlled judiciary.
And the president's comments on Saddam's fate come despite the fact that hundred of thousands of Iranians died as a result of the 1980 Iraqi invasion of Iran and the subsequent eight year war.
But Khatami said Iran was "happy" over his arrest.
"Saddam's regime is an example of one of the most bloodthirsty in history," he added, but then went on to express doubts that Saddam's trial would shed full light on what kind of international support he received.
"Somehow I doubt that Saddam will get a completely free and fair trial, because he would say things that would not please the people who are nowadays against him," Khatami argued. Meanwhile, the powerful head of Iran's conservative judiciary, Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, said he agreed to Saddam being tried in Iraq, contradicting an appeal from the reformist government for an international tribunal.
Quoted by the official news agency IRNA, Shahroudi told visiting Iraqi Oil Minister Ibrahim Bahr al-Ulum that "Saddam committed crimes of the highest and worst order against the Iranian and Iraqi people and should be tried in a court within Iraq."
Official media reported on December 16 that Iran's judiciary had written to UN chief Kofi Annan demanding that Saddam also be tried for crimes against the Iranian people, and even arguing he should face a court here. On December 15, the government demanded Saddam be tried before an international court, and announced it was preparing a comprehensive complaint.