I felt ashamed.
I felt ashamed of being forced to witnessing to this planned and cold-blooded murder by state's hands.
I felt ashamed of belonging to the same species with the owner of that hand who signed the death order, with the judge who ruled, with George Bush who ordered such and with all those world leaders who declared their satisfaction of this punishment with a cold smile on their faces.
I felt ashamed just like I felt before of belonging to the same big family that embraced Saddam Husseyin, Al-Tıkriti, Kenan Evren or Pinochet.
Of the muder of justice in the name of justice, of the fact that the punishment of the crime is savagery...
I'd have written more rationally, making reference to international law or inclinations. But as of now, I've to watch a picture where all word is rendered null. My heart aches, my eyes fill with tears and there's something big stuck at my throat as I watch it again and again.
The identity of the protagonist in the picture is trivial, I'm not even aware who that is. "I'm against murder" and this man is being "murdered".
Meanwhile, I listen in agony to the words of Bush saying that "this is a cornerstone for democracy in Iraq".
For years now, I defend that capital punishment is inhuman; that it should be named as murder, not a punishment. And what I witness today once again proves my views.
The man who walked to execution today was no longer a "villain". He was just a man walking to his death. Quickly and unlawfully tried, he was a man sacrified by a state under occupation, not known how its governed.
Violence only causes more violence.
They say justice is served now, but for who?
Trying Saddam Hussein with his own means, is this justice?
How will all the crimes committed under his rule will come to light now? How will justice be served for the victims of those crimes? Will they hang Saddam Hussein once again after each case?
How will justice be served for Iraqi people, doomed to live under the sky where violence on the streets escalates and in an Iraq headin for dissolution?
How will the pain and revenge growing in the hearts of the families of the hanged cease? By hanging the hangers some day?
Capital punishment is a collective punishment. Today I was also executed, as millions of others who oppose capital punishment like myself. Who will restore justice for us?
69 countries exercise capital punishment. In 2005, more than 2000 people were executed. Each one of those murdered will be noted as a shame in human history. We witnessed the last one today.
If you reacted to Saddam Hussein's death sayin "This is justice" or "A good deed is done", please look up to yourself in the mirror and ask yourself this question:
"What's my difference than Saddam Hussein?".(OD/TK/EU)
* Ozlem Dalkıran wrote this piece just after Saddam Hussein's execution on Sunday, December 31, 2006.
