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This column is for self study or classroom use and gives guided help with reading the wide variety of writing styles and topics that appear as feature articles in the Bangkok Post. The lessons include background information, skill building practice and vocabulary explanations. November 14, 2006 The clock is ticking INTRODUCTION

IThe clock is ticking for former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. Yesterday's death sentence now goes to an appeals court which could spend as little as a month or two to review the case. If the sentence is upheld, the execution would have to be carried out within 30 days. Thus, it is easy to understand why the former leader was described as "visibly shaken". Baghdad and much of the surrounding area was under curfew yesterday and that prevented much of the violence you might have expected following the verdict. Everyone is waiting anxiously for what will happen today. The curfew did not , however, prevent two very different public reactions to the court's decision. Read to find out which two groups were involved and how they reacted. The story also describes the dramatic scene in the courtroom when the death sentence was read. The fairness of the trial has been a big issue since its start. Iraqi leaders say it was fair, but Saddam's supporters say it was not. They may have a point. Find out from the story why the trial has been so controversial. Finally, Saddam Hussein was not the only defendant on trial. Who were the others and what verdicts did they receive? sentence the punishment a person receives after having been found guilty in a court of law appeals court a court which reviews the decision of a lower court and decides whether it should remain or be changed. upheld decided that the decision made by a lower court is correct execution the killing of a person as punishment for a serious crime visibly shaken noticeably anxious or shocked verdict a court decision defendant a person who has been accused of breaking the law and is being tried in court

OUR STORY FROM THE BANGKOK POST

Shaken Saddam to face the hangman Former Iraqi Saddam Hussein sits in the court before being sent out during his trial inside the fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, September 25. Saddam and seven others have been on trial since August 21 for a crackdown on Kurdish guerrillas in the late 1980s. The prosecution says about 180,000 people, mostly civilians, died in attacks that included the use of poison gas against Kurdish towns and villages in northhern Iraq.— EPA Baghdad — A visibly shaken Saddam Hussein was found guilty of crimes against humanity on Sunday and sentenced to hang at a lightning session of the US-sponsored court that has been trying him in Baghdad for the past year. Two other senior aides, including his half-brother Barzan al-Tikriti, will also hang if their automatic appeals fail. His former vice-president was sentenced to life in prison and three minor Baath party officials received long jail sentences. Shortly after the verdict was read in a heavily-fortified Baghdad courtroom that was once a Baa'th party office, clashes broke out between gunmen and US and Iraqi troops in two Sunni Muslim neighbourhoods of the capital. By contrast Shi'ites, the majority now dominating Iraq, poured into the streets, dancing and yelling in joy that the Sunni Arab who oppressed them for three decades is now likely to be executed. Mortar rounds slammed into two districts of Baghdad, one Sunni, one Shi'ite, killing five people in all, police said. The Shi'ite prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, said in a sombre televised speech to the nation that Saddam "is facing the punishment he deserves". Maliki's government has been criticised for interfering in the case, which concerns the deaths of more than 148 Shi'ite men from the town of Dujail. The verdict, delivered in a rapid-fire, 45-minute session, was the highpoint so far in one of the great experiments in the law of war crimes since Nazi leaders were tried at Nuremberg 60 years ago. Saddam is also on trial for genocide against Kurds. Yet the descent toward civil war since Saddam was overthrown in a US-led invasion in 2003, and questions about the impartiality of the American-backed court, have blighted a case that the United States hoped would unite Iraqis after three decades of Saddam's rule. Reuters lightning session a very quick meeting fortified made strong and more difficult to attack clashes fights majority more than half of a group dominating having the greatest power; controlling yelling shouting loudly mortar rounds missiles from a big gun which fires them high into the air over a short distance sombre serious and sad rapid-fire very fast genocide the deliberate killing of a specific community or race impartiality fairness blighted damaged or spoiled Read our other instant lesson here. Return to our home page. | © The Post Publishing Public Co., Ltd. All rights reserved 2006 | Last modified: November 13, 2006