Saddam Hussein's appeal begins

Baghdad: Judges put Saddam Hussein's appeal process into motion today as Baghdad found itself once more under round-the-clock curfew after the ousted president's death sentence stirred Iraq's sectarian tensions.
Saddam was sentenced to hang by the Iraqi High Tribunal, which found him guilty of crimes against humanity yesterday in the case of 148 Shiite civilians killed in revenge for an 1982 attempt on the then Iraqi leader's life.
The verdict served only to deepen Iraq's bitter religious divide, with Shiites celebrating it as a victory against their former oppressor and some Sunni Arabs protesting this latest humiliation to the ousted regime.
Tribunal spokesman Raed Juhi said the court has 10 days, starting today, within which it must submit its ruling justifying Saddam's execution to an appeals committee. This panel will then invite input from the prosecution.
Defence lawyers have also said they will submit their arguments.
Twenty days after that, the case will be sealed and the panel will retire to consider its verdict. No date has been set for their final judgment, which is binding, said Juhi, who is also the court's investigative judge.
If the final verdict confirms Saddam's guilt, he will be executed within 30 days, and some powerful Iraqi voices are calling for the judges not to dawdle.
"We strongly feel that every day he lives is not good for the Iraqi people. We need to put an end to him, to this dictator," Bassam Ridha, a senior aide to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, told AFP.
But, among Saddam's supporters in Iraq's angry Sunni Arab minority, there was anger at a ruling many argued had been forced on Iraq by foreign powers, in particular the United States.
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