Saddam Hussein sentenced

Saddam Hussein has been sentenced to death by hanging. I write this with sadness. Do not at any time think that I am a sympathiser of this man (though I do have sympathy for any person facing the death penalty). I do recognise that Saddam Hussein was a tyrant whom ruled over Iraq by fear and treated anyone who opposed him with impunity but the case still remains that the death penalty is wrong. How can Iraqi government tell its citizens to stop shedding blood whilst it is going to itself commit to a violent act against someone that it has an issue with?

I do know that everyone has a view about Saddam and expect to have people comment upon my views but before you do so please first read my reasoning.

Any time I would use the argument against capital punishment that an innocent person maybe found guilty and subsequently lose their life (we all know that this has happened in the past), but in this case we all know that Saddam is guilty of crimes against humanity, as was Hitler.

My reasoning here is therefore the next argument that I would use. If you kill somebody then the pain and suffering that they suffer would be for a short time. How is this justice? This is an easy way out. Somebody whom has committed any crime should be allowed to understand hat what hey have done is wrong and why it is wrong. Saddam should be locked away for the rest of his life. I do not mean to lock imprison him a Presidential palace, I mean to incarcerate him in the same conditions that all citizens of Iraq would have to face and which he would have imposed upon those that he had imprisoned. Allow him the chance to truly sit and think about what he has done and to come to terms with what he will need to face hen he dies. He is a Muslim after all and so believes in an afterlife. I am sure that he is a clever man and surely does not believe that he will ever reach the paradise of heaven.

Finally, if Saddam Hussein is killed then there is a risk that he will be made a martyr and consequently give excuses to those persons that may wish to cause a civil war.