BAGHDAD (Reuters):

The Iraqi High Court ruled yesterday, that Saddam Hussein's former vice president should follow him to the gallows, despite appeals from United Nations' (U.N.) officials and international human rights groups for his life to be spared.

Ramadan was sentenced in November to life in jail for the killings, for which Saddam and two former aides have already been hanged. But an appeals court recommended that he receive the death penalty and referred the case back to the trial court.

Ramadan, in his 60s and wearing thick-rimmed black spectacles and traditional Arab robes and red-chequered head-dress, showed no emotion as the ruling, which can be appealed, was read out.

Concerns raised

New York-based Human Rights Watch, which raised concerns about the fairness of the original trial, urged the court on Sunday not to impose the death penalty, saying there had been a lack of evidence tying Ramadan to the Dujail killings.

The trial court in November found Ramadan guilty of issuing orders for the systematic killing, detention and torture of men, women and children from Dujail following an attempt on Saddam's life there in 1982.

United Nations human rights chief Louise Arbour last week urged the court to spare Ramadan's life, saying a death sentence would break international law.

Ramadan and Saddam's former deputy Izzat Ibrahim, now believed by Iraqi officials to be in Syria or Yemen, are the sole survivors of the plotters of the 1968 coup that returned the Baath party to power.