Britain tells of plea to Iraq to spare Hussein

British officials conveyed to the Iraqi government their country’s categoric opposition to the death penalty on the eve of Saddam Hussein’s execution, Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said in a letter disclosed Thursday.

Beckett said high-level representatives of her government made the appeal in Baghdad the day before the former dictator was hanged.

“I can assure you that the British government repeatedly made clear to the Iraqi government its opposition to the death penalty in all cases,” Beckett said in a letter to lawmaker Andrew Mackinlay, published Thursday. “This included lobbying at the highest level in Baghdad on 29 December, the eve of the execution.”

Beckett said that after the execution, the British government had again contacted Iraqi officials to emphasize their opposition to the death penalty.