Saddam Hussein has vowed to go the gallows as a "martyr" ready and willing to sacrifice himself, after Iraq's highest court rejected an appeal against his death sentence.

Former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein gestures during his trial in Baghdad, in this Jan. 29, 2006 file photo. On Tuesday Dec. 26, 2006 Iraq's highest appeals court upheld the death sentence for Saddam Hussein, Iraq's national security adviser said . (AP Photo/Darko Bandic, Pool/FILE)

In a defiant letter released today but said to be written from his prison cell in November when he was first sentenced to death, the ex-dictator addresses Iraq’s citizens directly, urging them to unite against "the enemies".

"I sacrifice myself. If God wills it, he will place me among the true men and martyrs," he wrote. "O faithful people, I bid you farewell as my soul goes to God the compassionate…Long live Iraq. Long Live Iraq. Long live Palestine. Long live jihad and the Mujahidin. God is great."

The message came as Saddam’s Baath Party - disbanded after his ousting in 2003 - threatened retaliation if the execution went ahead, warning in an internet posting that it would target US interests anywhere.

On a statement on a site believed to be run from Yemen, where a number of exiled members of the party are based, the party said: "The Baath and the resistance are determined to retaliate, with all means and everywhere, to harm America and its interests if it commits this crime.

"The American Administration will be held responsible for any harm inflicted on the president because the United States is the decision-maker (in Iraq) and not the puppet Iraqi government."

The statement said that if the execution took place, it would be impossible for the Baath party to take part in any prospective negotiations with US and Iraqi officials to reduce the violence in Iraq.

In his own message, Saddam blamed the US and Iran for the sectarian violence plaguing Iraq. "The enemies of your country, the invaders and the Persians have found your unity a barrier between you and those who are now ruling you. Therefore, they drove their hated wedge among you," he wrote.

Yesterday, a panel of appeals court judges confirmed Saddam’s conviction for crimes against humanity in the killing of 148 people in the northern town of Dujail in 1982. The court ordered that the sentence should be carried out within 30 days.

The White House hailed the ruling as a milestone in Iraq’s efforts "to replace the rule of a tyrant with the rule of law", but the ruling has divided both the international community as well as furthering tensions within Iraq, with the Shia Muslim majority demanding the penalty goes ahead while Sunnis denounced the trial as unfair.

Saddam’s defence lawyers have called on Arab governments and the UN to intervene, while the EU has called on Baghdad to stop the execution going ahead. India has urged clemency, expressing concern over any delay to the restoration of peace in the conflict-torn nation.

Announcing the verdict, Judge Arif Shaheen said: "Our job is done and now it is in the hand of the executive authority. They (the government) have the right to choose the date starting from tomorrow up to 30 days."

Despite repeated requests for information, the government has so refused to issue a statement on when and how exactly it would carry out the execution.

But Hashem al-Shibli, Justice Minister, told AFP that the sentence would be rubber-stamped by the presidency while the prison service prepares to hang him. He said that the process would be underway shortly, but could be delayed by the onset of the four-day Eid al-Adha holiday, which is due to start at the end of the week.

"There will be no amnesty in this case. Once we get the decree, we shall prepare to take action," Mr al-Shibli said. "The decree passed by the court of appeal shall be passed to the presidency and a presidential decree shall be sent to the General Prisons Directorate for the purpose of implementing the death sentence."

Under Iraqi law, the appeals court decision must be ratified by President Jalal Talabani and Iraq’s two vice-presidents. Mr Talabani has said he is opposed to the death penalty but has signalled that he will step aside and allow his deputies to authorise the verdict.

But Raed Juhi, a spokesman for the High Tribunal court that convicted Saddam, said the judicial system would implement the execution "by the power of the law" even if the presidency did not ratify it.

Saddam has been in US custody since his capture in December 2003 and is  being held at Camp Cropper, a US military prison near Baghdad’s airport. Military officials were not able to say whether he is now being turned over to the Iraqis, in anticipation of the sentence.

Although it is not yet clear where the hanging will take place, some have speculated it might occur at Camp Cropper or at a Baghdad prison where the new Iraqi Government has carried out other executions. It is also uncertain if the public or press will be allowed to witness the hanging, or if the execution will be announced only afterwards.

The key ruling came on a particularly bloody day in Baghdad, where at least 54 Iraqis died in bombings and police discovered 49 apparent victims of sectarian reprisal killings. Separately, the US military announced the deaths of seven American soldiers.

In upholding the sentence, originally imposed on November 5, the Iraqi court also affirmed death sentences for two of Saddam’s co-defendants, including his half-brother. It also recommended that a life imprisonment for a third defendant - former Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan - was too lenient and demanded that he be given the death penalty too.

© Copyright 2006 Times Newspapers Ltd.

###