Giovanni Di Stefano [lawyer for Saddam Hussein]: "Although Saddam Hussein CAN be sentenced to death the sentence CANNOT be carried out owing to an agreement between the UK/ITALY and the IRAQI Government witnessed by the US in 2004 which the Iraqi Government gave a written undertaking NOT to carry out the death sentence (capital punishment) on 11 detained of which Saddam Hussein is but one… I certainly made it clear on my interviews in 2004 and 2005 with CNN, ABC, CBS etc but for the media the trial of Saddam without the risk of the death penalty made boring news. So on each report (look for example on the BBC Website) it would have at the bottom that Saddam risked the death sentence. YES, he risked having such IMPOSED but never could it be carried out…

I do not feel sorry for any of the dramatis personea in this matter. Not for Saddam Hussein although a client, not for Iraq, not for the US, the UK or any of the lawyers, judges, administrators or even the UN. I feel sorry for the loss of international law and the right and respect for international jurisprudence caused by the unlawful attack on Iraq based entirely upon a sea of mendacity. It is for the loss of natural order that all those in the legal profession should feel sorry for."