PARIS: Executing Saddam Hussein would be an "unacceptable" mistake that could throw Iraq into a "veritable civil war", Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema warned in Paris on Monday.
"Killing Saddam would be a mistake," he told a media conference held alongside his French counterpart, Philippe Douste-Blazy.
His comments were the strongest condemnation yet by a European official of the death penalty handed down on Iraq's former president by a Baghdad court on Sunday.
"The application of the death penalty is unacceptable for two reasons," D'Alema said.
"The first reason is of principle, because Europe is opposed to the death penalty and is fighting to have it banned everywhere in the world," he said.
"In the second place, given the difficult and dramatic situation in Iraq, the execution of Saddam Hussein could end up leading the country into a veritable civil war."
Saddam was sentenced to hang by the Iraqi High Tribunal, which found him guilty on Sunday of crimes against humanity in the case of 148 Shiite civilians who were killed in revenge for an 1982 attempt on the then Iraqi leader's life.
An automatic appeal process has been started to review the verdict and is due to last a month. If the death penalty is upheld, Saddam would be due to be hanged early next month.
