Russia views the verdict to Saddam Hussein as Iraq’s internal affair and calls on external forces to stay out of the course of trial, the Foreign Ministry official spokesman said as the world split after Hussein’s death verdict was announced Sunday.

“A trial over a state’s citizen is the state’s internal affair, whatever post the cirtizen might have occupied before, and should be conducted and finished without external advice,” Mikhail Kamynin was quoted by Gazeta.ru as saying.

“We think that any decision, especially in such a complicated issue as a trial over the former Iraqi leader, should be made regardles of politics, on a purely legal basis,” he added.

“Considering the difficult situation in Iraq, it is vital to avoid anything that could further split the Iraqi society,” Kamynin said.

Saddam Hussein’s death sentence unleashed fears of fresh violence and new questions about the fairness and impartiality of the tribunal that ordered him to hang, AP reported.

Underscoring the fault lines that split the international community and widened the divide between Muslims and Christians, Islamic leaders warned that the verdict could inflame those who revile the United States — undermining U.S. policy in the volatile Middle East and inspiring terrorists to strike.

Critics accused President Bush of timing the sentence just two days before Tuesday’s pivotal midterm elections, where Democrats are fighting to regain control of Congress.

In Pakistan, the opposition religious coalition claimed American forces have caused more deaths in Iraq during the past 3 1/2 years than Saddam during his 23-year reign, and insisted Bush should stand trial for war crimes.

Reaction was mixed across the Arab world. Some Muslims saw the sentence as divine justice, but others denounced it as a farce, maintaining that Iraq is more violent now than it was under Saddam.

But Sunday’s verdict, which had been widely expected, was welcomed by key U.S. allies, who said Saddam got what he deserved for crimes against humanity committed during years of brutal dictatorship.

“Appalling crimes were committed by Saddam Hussein’s regime. It is right that those accused of such crimes against the Iraqi people should face Iraqi justice,” British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said in a statement.

Australia’s foreign minister, Alexander Downer, called Saddam “an evil tyrant” and said the death sentence — which will be subject to an automatic appeal before he can be hanged — came as no surprise.

Amnesty International questioned the fairness of the trial, and international legal experts said Saddam should be kept alive long enough to answer for other atrocities. Only then, they said, will Iraqis brutalized by years of his despotic rule see true justice done.

Chandra Muzaffar, president of the Malaysian-based International Movement for a Just World, also voiced concerns that Saddam’s trial was flawed because it “violated many established norms of international jurisprudence, such as in the way the court was constituted and how the charges were brought against Saddam.”

Chandra said there was bound to be a violent reaction in Iraq.

Underlining the volatility, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said in Paris that he thought the trial was fair but refused to elaborate, fearing his remarks could inflame tensions.

In Russia, the Kremlin-allied head of the international affairs committee in the State Duma, or lower house of parliament, told Ekho Moskvy radio the sentence will deepen divisions in Iraq.

But the official, Konstantin Kosachyov, said he doubted that Saddam would actually be executed.

“A death sentence will apparently split Iraqi society even further,” Kosachyov said. “On the other hand, it seems to me that the death sentence against Saddam Hussein will probably not be carried out. It will be stopped one way or another, either by the president of Iraq or by other means. It is most of all a moral decision — retribution that modern Iraq is taking against Saddam’s regime.”

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt called the verdict “deeply satisfying” despite Europe’s opposition to the death penalty, but he stressed that it won’t solve Iraq’s problems.

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