ITALY. SADDAM: DEATH SENTENCE NEVER A SOLUTION, MASTELLA

"I express my firm and decisive 'no' to the death sentence, which can never be considered to be a solution," said Italian Justice Minister and UDEUR Secretary Clemente Mastella who, concerning the decision of Iraqi judges to green-light the hanging of Saddam Hussein, added: "As a Catholic secularly involved in politics, I am firmly convinced that life is a gift which cannot be given or denied to people. This doesn't mean defending those who have stained their hands with grievous crimes. This means not yielding to the rationale of punishments which become revenge and not justice, which create hatred and do not pacify, which tread on the principles of our democracy. I hope that they do not execute Saddam, because it would be a terrible defeat for the West, with the risk of transforming a dictator into a martyr," Mastella concluded.