Verdict invites unrest_高级精读

a visibly shaken saddam hussein was found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging for crimes against humanity by a special iraqi tribunal on sunday.

saddam was charged with killing 148 shiites from dujail, a town 55 kilometres north of baghdad. the killing was done in revenge for an attempt on saddam's life in 1982.

the verdict was hailed as a victory for "iraq's young democracy" by the us. but, many believe it will intensify tensions between the country's two main muslim sects: the sunnis and shiites.

of iraq's population of 26 million, about 60 per cent are shiites and the rest are sunnis. the split dates back to the 7th century when, according to muslim tradition, the prophet muhammad died. the two sects disagreed over who would take over as leader.

over the centuries, the two sects developed different social and religious practices, though they share the same basic beliefs. they have often viewed each other with suspicion.

since iraq's founding in 1920, the government had been controlled by the sunni minority. but the current government is shiite-dominated. under the 30-year rule of saddam, a sunni, shiites were repressed. conflicts sometimes escalated, as in the case of the dujail incident.

shiites happy

saddam's hanging could further intensify the conflicts, said analysts. sectarian violence by saddam's sunni supporters has already plagued the country.

for the shiites, saddam's death sentence is something to celebrate. "i feel happy," said a 31-year-old shiite shop owner in baghdad. "i think he got his punishment. there was no iraqi house that didn't have damage because of saddam hussein."

sunnis upset

however, the sunnis view the verdict as unjust. tikrit, a city 135 kilometres north of baghdad, is in the sunni heartland. saddam supporters marched on the streets on monday, shouting, "we will avenge you saddam."

mohammed abbas, a retired school teacher in iraq, predicted that sunnis would take revenge. "we are a tribal people," abbas said.

"when any ordinary member of our tribe is killed, we will kill one from the enemy tribe, to say nothing of an important person like saddam," he said.
the us denied influencing the verdict. but no one can ignore the benefits of executing saddam: his existence encourages sunni violence.
 

crime against humanity

it is a term in international law that refers to large-scale atrocities against a particular group of people.

the 9-11 bombings in the us are defined as a crimes against humanity because they were deliberate and intentional killings of large numbers of civilians for political or other purposes.

the persecution of one racial group by another, such as the dujail case by saddam in iraq, was recognized as a crime against humanity by the united nations in 1976.

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atrocity: 暴行
persecution: 迫害
avenge: 为...报仇
crime against
humanity: 反人类罪
escalate: 升级
execute: 处决
repress: 镇压
revenge: 复仇
sect: 教派
sectarian: 教派的
shiite: 什叶派
sunni: 逊尼派
tribunal: 法庭
verdict: 判决