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Reuters: Saddam may hang within hours: senior Iraqi source

Saddam Hussein could be hanged within hours, a senior Iraqi source told Reuters on Friday after Saddam’s lawyer said U.S. forces had handed over the former president to Iraqi authorities for execution.

“Things have changed in the past three hours. There were some issues … and now that is resolved so it seems it’s possible he may be hanged tonight,” the source, who is in a senior position of authority, said after a day of confusion.

However, the start of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha on Saturday raised the possibility of a delay until after the week-long holiday is over, he added: “It’s not certain,” he said.

Najib Naimi, a former Qatar justice minister who served on Saddam’s legal defense team, said he expected his client to be executed soon.

“We think he might be executed by tomorrow as a gift for the Iraqis,” he told BBC News 24.

Fox News at 10:25 AM PST is reporting that Saddam continues in United States custody and has not been turned over to the Iraqis for execution.

Update 1:38 PM PST:

AP: Saddam Asks U.S. to Block Execution

Lawyers for Saddam Hussein on Friday made a last-minute appeal to an American court to avert execution in Iraq, asking a judge to block his transfer from U.S. custody to the hands of Iraqi officials.

Hussein’s lawyers filed documents Friday afternoon asking for an emergency restraining order aimed at stopping the U.S. government from relinquishing custody of the condemned former Iraqi leader to Iraqi officials, a spokeswoman for a federal court in Washington D.C. said.

The documents were being processed and were not immediately made public. The Justice Department had not yet responded to the request.

A similar request by the former chief justice of the Revolutionary Court, Awad Hamed al-Bandar, was denied Thursday and is under appeal. Al-Bandar also faces execution. The Justice Department argued in that case that U.S. courts have no jurisdiction to interfere with the judicial process of another country.

Al-Bandar argued that his trial violated his rights under the U.S. Constitution but Justice countered that foreigners being tried in foreign courts are not protected by the U.S. Constitution.

No standing here……..

Tick Tock Tick Tock

Update 2:10 PM PST

Fox News is reporting that Saddam will be hanged before 6 AM Baghdad time. It is now 1:10 AM there.

Update 2:44 PM PST

Fox News is reporting that the final arrangements for Saddam’s release to Iraqi authorities are being made and that Saddam will be hanged within hours – by 10 PM EST, 7 PM PST.

Update 4:00 PM PST

Matt Drudge is reporting that Saddam Hussein is about to be executed.

The official witnesses to Saddam Hussein’s impending execution gathered Friday in Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone in final preparation for his hanging, as state television broadcast footage of his regime’s atrocities.

With U.S. forces on high alert for a surge in violence, the Iraqi government readied all the necessary documents, including a “red card” _ an execution order introduced during Saddam’s dictatorship. As the hour of his death approached, Saddam received two of his half brothers in his cell on Thursday and was said to have given them his personal belongings and a copy of his will.

State television, which spent Friday evening preparing the public for Saddam’s death by playing footage of torture and murder carried out by his forces, said the execution would take place between 5:30 am and 6:00 am.

Two and one half hours to go?

The execution of the Butcher of Baghdad.

Update 4:56 PM PST

Saddam’s daughter is requesting that her father be buried in Yemen. And Saddam be reburied in Iraq when it is liberated.

Update 6:08 PM PST 5:08 AM Baghdad time

Fox News is reporting that a United States court has rejected a stay of execution for Saddam. Execution is expected within the hour.

Update 6:16 PM PSTÂ 5:16 AM Baghdad Time

Final Plans Made for Saddam’s Execution

An adviser to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Saddam would be executed before 6 a.m. Saturday, or 10 p.m. Friday EST. Saddam and others were convicted of murder in the killings of 148 Shiite Muslims from an Iraqi town where assassins tried to kill Saddam in 1982.

Also to be hanged were Saddam’s half-brother Barzan Ibrahim and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, the former chief justice of the Revolutionary Court, the adviser said.

The time was agreed upon during a meeting Friday between U.S. and Iraqi officials, said the adviser, who declined to be quoted by name because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

“Saddam will be handed over shortly before the execution,” the official said. The physical transfer of Saddam from U.S. to Iraqi authorities was believed to be one of the last steps before he was to be hanged. Saddam had been in U.S. custody since he was captured in December 2003.

Stay tuned for updates…..

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