Saddam-happy to meet his death

DUBAI, Dec 29 (Reuters) In the shadow of the scaffold, saddam hussein met two of his half-brothers and passed on personal messages to his family, a lawyer said.

Badie Aref, one of Saddam's lawyers, said the rare meeting with maternal half-brothers Sabawi and Watban Ibrahim Hassan al-Tikriti, who are in US custody, was at the request of the ousted Iraqi leader and took place inside his heavily guarded prison cell in Baghdad yesterday.

Aref said Saddam was in very high spirits and had sensed ''something was happening relating to the sentence'' when prison guards took away a small radio he had been given several months ago.

''He met Sabawi and Watban and gave them letters to his family in anticipation ... he is clearly unaware of the details of what is happening around him and prepared to give his life as a martyr to his country,'' Aref told Reuters by telephone.

A senior US official said yesterday the Iraqi government had told the US that Saddam could be hanged within a few days for crimes against humanity.

Aref said prison sources who told him of the family meeting said Saddam was aware of an appeals court decision to uphold his death sentence for crimes against humanity during his 24-year rule.

''He was in very high spirits and clearly readying himself,'' Aref said during a visit to Dubai.

''He told them that he was happy he would meet his death at the hands of his enemies and be a martyr and not just languish in prison in oblivion.'' Aref said he was unsure if Saddam's third half-brother, Barzan al-Tikriti, who was sentenced to death along with the ousted leader, saw the ousted leader.

The lawyer said the information he had was that Saddam was still in US custody and had not been turned over to Iraqi authorities.

The Iraqi government has declined to give any indication on when and how it was going to execute Saddam, overthrown by a US-led invasion in 2003. There have been conflicting views on whether the execution was imminent or would be in the coming few weeks.