BAGHDAD, Iraq - The official witnesses to Saddam Hussein's impending execution gathered Friday in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone in final preparation for his hanging.

With U.S. forces on high alert for a surge in violence, the Iraqi government readied all the necessary documents, including a "red card" ¡ª an execution order introduced during Saddam's rule. As his time waned, Saddam received two of his half brothers in his cell Thursday and was said to have given them his personal belongings and a copy of his will.

Saddam Hussein attends the third day of his trial for genocide against Kurds in the 1980s, in Baghdad in this August 23, 2006 file photo.[Reuters]

 

Najeeb al-Nueimi, a member of Saddam's legal team in Doha, Qatar, said he too requested a final meeting with the deposed Iraqi leader. "His daughter in Amman was crying, she said, 'Take me with you,'" al-Nueimi said late Friday. But he said their request was rejected.

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.

Related readings:  Pentagon: US forces on high alert  Saddam still in US custody   US preparing for Saddam's execution  Saddam bids family farewell, hanging date unclear  Saddam lawyer seeks mercy  Iraq prepares for Saddam execution  Saddam says faces death without fear, urges unity  Saddam sentence is just 'political show,' analysts say  Saddam calls for coexistence  Iraq court upholds Saddam's death penalty

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.

Al-Nueimi said U.S. authorities were maintaining physical custody of Saddam to prevent him from being humiliated before his execution. He said the Americans also want to prevent the mutilation of his corpse, as has happened to other deposed Iraqi leaders.

"The Americans want him to be hanged respectfully," al-Nueimi said. If Saddam is humiliated publicly or his corpse ill-treated "that could cause an uprising and the Americans would be blamed," he said.

1

2

3