A VISIBLY shaken Saddam Hussein was found guilty yesterday of crimes against humanity and sentenced to hang.

As he, his half brother and another senior official in his regime were convicted and sentenced to death for the killings of 148 people in a single town, Saddam yelled out, “Long live the people and death to their enemies. Long live the glorious nation, and death to its enemies!”

The sentences unleashed fears of fresh violence and new questions about the fairness and impartiality of the U.S.-sponsored tribunal that has been trying him in Baghdad for the past year.

Shortly after the verdict was read out in the heavily fortified courtroom, clashes broke out between gunmen and U.S. and Iraqi troops in two Sunni Muslim neighborhoods of the capital. Elsewhere in the capital, celebratory gunfire rang out.

The death sentences were not expected to be carried out quickly. They automatically go to a nine-judge appeals panel which has unlimited time to review the case. If the verdicts and sentences are upheld, the executions must be carried out within 30 days.

Saddam and his seven co-defendants were on trial for a wave of revenge killings carried out in the city of Dujail following a 1982 assassination attempt on the former leader. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Islamic Dawa party, then an underground opposition, has claimed responsibility for organizing the attempt on Saddam’s life.

During yesterday’s hearing, Saddam initially refused the chief judge’s order to rise; two bailiffs lifted the ousted ruler to his feet and he remained standing through the sentencing.

Before the session began, one of Saddam’s lawyers, former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, was ejected from the courtroom after handing the judge a memorandum in which he called the trial a travesty.

Chief Judge Raouf Abdul-Rahman pointed to Clark and said in English, “Get out.”

In addition to Saddam and Barzan Ibrahim, his former intelligence chief and half brother, the Iraqi High Tribunal convicted and sentenced Awad Hamed al-Bandar, the head of Iraq’s former Revolutionary Court, to death by hanging. Iraq’s former Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan was convicted of premeditated murder and sentenced to life in prison.

Three defendants were sentenced to 15 years in prison for torture and premeditated murder. Abdullah Kazim Ruwayyid and his son Mizhar Abdullah Ruwayyid were party officials in Dujail, along with Ali Dayih Ali. They were believed responsible for the Dujail arrests.

Mohammed Azawi Ali, a former Dujail Baath Party official, was acquitted for lack of evidence and immediately freed.

He faces additional charges in a separate case over an alleged massacre of Kurdish civilians.

Saddam’s trial had from the outset appeared to reflect the turmoil and violence in Iraq since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

One of Saddam’s lawyers was assassinated the day after the trial’s opening session last year. Two more were later assassinated and a fourth fled the country.

In January, chief judge Rizgar Amin, a Kurd, resigned after complaints by Shiite politicians that he had failed to keep control of court proceedings. He, in turn, complained of political interference in the trial. Abdul-Rahman, another Kurd, replaced Amin.

Hearings were frequently disrupted by outbursts from Saddam and Ibrahim, with the two raging against what they said was the illegitimacy of the court, their ill treatment in the U.S.-run facility where they are being held and the lack of protection for their lawyers.

The defense lawyers contributed to the chaos in the courtroom by staging several boycotts.

(SD-Agencies)