VOL-II, ISSUE- II (Fall 2009)

HOW THE PAKISTANI PRESS FRAMED THE EXECUTION OF SADDAM HUSSEIN?

Farish Ullah Yousafzai (Ph.D)
Bakht Rawan (Ph.D)

ABSTRACT

 INTRODUCTION

REVIEW OF THE RELEVANT OPINION PAGES OF THE PAKISTANI PRESS

Press criticized Saddam’s regime
In its editorial, the daily Nation (2007) criticized Saddam that he had been one of the U.S. most trusted agents in the Middle East and attacked Iran to please the U.S. and to stop Iran as an emerging power on the scene. The daily blamed him for invading Kuwait; crushing all his political opposition and even killed his two sons-in-law for speaking against him. Niazi (Nation, 2007) believes that Saddam was responsible for bloodshed and sufferings of his own people. He massacred Kurds, Shiites and political opponents. On commenting Saddam regime, Lone (Nation, 2007) expressed that he was a brutal tyrant and killed thousands of Iraqis just for political reasons.
Gauhar (Nation, 2007) severely criticized Saddam for dropping nerve gas on Kurd population, killing thousands of people. Mirza (Dawn, 2007) also made Saddam’s regime responsible for the killing of Kurd and Shiite population. He believes that Iraq’s Arab neighbors as well as the Reagan and Thatcher administrations supported his war efforts.  Fatemi (Dawn, 2007) believes that Iraq’s history is brutal and bloody beyond belief because Saddam himself never believed in the sanctity of law. He maintains that some Arab rulers and Western sources extended financial support to Saddam in the war against Iran. Shaikh (Dawn, 2007) condemns him for bad ambitions that reduced the most prosperous country into a living hell. Baig (Jang, 2007) expressed that Saddam used poison gas against Kurds that killed innocent people including children and women. Laghari (Jang, 2007) lamented his role as a U.S. agent and invaded Kuwait that provided justification for establishing U.S. military basis in the region. Hussein (Jang, 2007) as well as Razi (Jang, 2007) criticized his unwise and irresponsible ruling that enabled Israel to attack atomic reactor of Iraq.

Pakistani press criticizing execution
Pakistani press criticized the execution of Saddam on several counts: the U.S. influence on trial; video recording and insult of Saddam during the execution; its effects on Shiite-Sunni tension; and the hanging of Saddam on the day of Eidul Azha.

The status of the tribunal
Saddam was sentenced to death by an Iraqi elite court constituted and working under the Iraqi constitution. But Qureshi (Jang, 2007) as well as Sajid (Jang, 2007) believe that hanging of Saddam was an integral part of the U.S. conspiracy and the trial did not fulfill the least requirements for justice. The guardian (2007) cited in the Dawn, reports that Saddam was tried by a special tribunal shaped and directed by Western forces. Patel (Jang, 2007) holds that occupation of Iraq was an illegitimate act and courts functioning there were illegal and their verdicts had no legal status. Haq (Jang, 2007) and Qureshi, (Jang, 2007) observe that his hanging is an extrajudicial killing because the trial could not meet the international standards in the judicial process and the main task of the U.S. constituted tribunal was to eliminate him. Bhaie (Jang, 2007) pointed out that impartial judges were terminated and Saddam’s lawyers assassinated.
Umar (Jang, 2007) expressed that Saddam’s execution was a matter of concern for the Human Rights Organizations because the legal procedure was full of flaws. Editorial appeared in the daily Nation (2006) strongly criticized the execution as saying that it was an act of revenge, not a delivery of justice. Human rights groups and former U.S. Attorney-General Ramsey Clark made it clear that the trial was not fair and justice was not delivered properly. According to Ayazuddin (Nation, 2007), the Americans imposed a judgment on the Iraqi tribunal. Gauhar (Nation, 2007) suggests that the procedure of the execution was like a man convicted of murder being handed over to the victim’s family to kill him as they please. Lone (Nation, 2007) asserted that Saddam’s hanging was a crime for he was not allowed to defend himself. He maintained, “Saddam was in fact hanged without having been legally convicted of an offense,” and that the U.S. refused to allow a trial in an international tribunal that has tried Milosevic and other war criminals. Ali (Dawn, 2007) comments that the trial fell well short of acceptable legal norms and the style of execution reinforced the impression of a pure revenge. Mirza (Dawn, 2007) described the trial as bogus and totally prejudiced. He maintains that many Western legal experts, human rights and civil organizations including the U.S.-based Human Rights Watch condemned the legal aspects of the trial. Harassing and persecution of the defense lawyers and removal of the independent judges were also criticized by the press. The press also reveals that Iraqi administration is run by Shiites and Kurds, who are Saddam’s political enemies. The press comments that several observers, including the American commentators, claim that the execution was carried out swiftly and several judicial aspects were ignored (Fatemi, Dawn, 2007).
Shaikh (Dawn, 2007) cited an Arab observer in his article, “Important evidence were not disclosed to them during the trial, and Saddam was prevented from questioning witnesses testifying against him. Several of his lawyers were threatened or assassinated, and the trial was subjected to continuous political interference.” Shaikh argues that Iraqi law requires signatures of the president and vice-president for the death penalty but the Prime Minister did not secure their signatures for the execution.

Videotaping and taunts by the executioners
Video recording of the event of execution was a strange phenomenon and condemned by many article writers. They believe that making video of the event was violation of the law. They also condemned the taunting of Saddam by his executioners during hanging (Nation, 2007; Khayal, 2007). According to Mirza (Dawn, 2007), shocking scenes were brought to the world and released on the internet. He cited the British Vice President, John Prescott who told the BBC that the manner of Saddam’s death was “quite deplorable, and to get this kind of recorded messages coming out is totally unacceptable.”
            The Daily Dawn (2007) writes that it was justice delivered in its crudest form and “the video tapes are shocking and terrible.” Shaikh (Dawn, 2007) suggests that the execution was a “sectarian killing rather than the dispensation of justice.” The Daily Jang (2007) terms the video taping as an illegal, immoral act. Muhayyuddin (Jang, 2007) condemned the video recording in which indecent language had been used by the executioners. Ali (Dawn, 2007) argues that video showed that Saddam was subjected to taunts from the guards and the assembled audiences.

Eidul Azha factor
The hanging of Saddam on the day of Eidul Azha was another aspect of the event criticized by the Pakistani press. It is commonly believed in the Muslims that the Bush administration planned the event on the occasion of Eid to insult the Muslims collectively. The press pointed out that execution on the day of Eid indicates their insensitivity towards Muslim beliefs and practices. Qayyum (Nation, 2007) also criticized the U.S. by choosing the sacred day of Eid for the execution. He maintained that they do not care about Muslim religion. Similarly, the press believes that execution on Eid was a collective insult of all Muslims, and has violated the Iraqi law. The press cited a senior Iraqi judge who remarked that the local law forbids execution during Eid (Ayazuddin, Nation, 2007; Lone, Nation, 2007). Mirza (Dawn, 2007) warns that the hanging of Saddam on Eid day is the beginning of a new war in the region.
Baig (Jang, 2007) accused the Iraqi and the U.S. administrations and added that hanging on Eid day was a collective insult of more than one billion Muslims across the world. Muhammad (Jang, 2007) remarked that such act indicated the moral degradation and tension of the Iraqi and the U.S. administrations. Some articles predict that hanging of Saddam on Eid bring many negative consequences to the region because it is a matter of concern and anger for the Muslims. Such events will make the situation more difficult for the Iraqi and U.S. administrations (Haq, Jang, 2007; Butt, Jang, 2007).

 Sectarian tension
Sunni-Shiite tension in Iraq is already very high and hundred of Iraqis are being tortured and killed on daily basis. Since, Saddam was a Sunni leader, hanged by Shiite led administration, therefore, Sunni population blames Shiites for his execution. The press predicts that hanging of Sunni’s leader will further intensify the ongoing war between the two sects and the situation would be worst in the coming days. 
The hanging of Saddam will intensify the ongoing bloodshed, deepen sectarian and ethnic divide and push the country towards disintegration. Shiite-Sunni divide has got worst and Saddam’s hanging has driven a dagger into the heart of Shiite-Sunni relations (Gauhar, Nation, 2007; Qayyum, Nation, 20077)). The press predicts that Saddam’s execution will turn the Shiite-Sunni violence into a civil war because Iraqi Sunnis are likely to evaluate Saddam’s execution as an evidence of their further marginalization (Fatemi, Dawn, 2007). The press alarms that Saddam’s hanging will further accentuate the sectarian divide and perhaps destabilize the entire gulf region (Jang Editorial, 2007; Laghari, Jang, 2007; Haq, Jang, 2007).

Justice by the criminals
The press also criticized the social and ethical aspects of the Saddam’s execution and questions the integrity of the U.S. administration for involvement in the crime against humanity. The press claims that the U.S. administration is responsible for the killing of thousands of civilians in Iraq, Afghanistan, South-East Asia and Latin America (Ali, Dawn, 2007; Mirza, Dawn, 2007). Mirza (Dawn, 2007) cited two writers with the following statements:

The press argues if Saddam have killed Kurds and Shiites, the U.S. resorted to carpet bombing and killed thousands of civilians indiscriminately in Afghanistan and Iraq. Bush and his allies are more criminal for occupying Iraq for its natural resources, widening sectarian tension and killing thousands of Iraqis (Qureshi, Jang, 2007; Sajid, Jang, 2007). The press asks that Saddam was hanged for the killing of 148 people but the U.S. is responsible for the killing of 450000 and injuring two million civilians in Iraq for the sake of occupation of Iraq’s natural resources (Umar, Jang, 2007; Patel, Jang, 2007).

International reaction to the execution
Saddam’s execution evoked mixed reactions worldwide. President Bush called it “an important milestone on course to Iraq’s becoming a democracy” The OIC, the Muslim world’s representative body termed it a tragic event that could intensify the ongoing Shiite-Sunni tension. Pakistan also termed the execution as a tragic incident and dangerous for the Iraq stability. Iran and Kuwait hailed the act while European countries criticized the hanging mainly because of opposition to the death sentence on principle, not for any other reason. Russians regretted that it would further intensify the already tragic situation in the region The Vatican City condemned the hanging and warned that it would intensify the ongoing violence in the region. Human Rights Watch denounced the event as an inhuman, immoral, and illegal.
            US political analysts Riddle and Nolan note that execution of Saddam proved that Bush administration has declined the option of solving the problems through peaceful dialogue and political negotiation (Muhayyuddin, Jang, 2007). Libya denounced the execution (Mir, Jang, 2007) and an Egyptian newspaper, Al Ahram warned that the event would adversely affect the entire region. UK voice president, Prescott and the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown denounced the event as an illegal act. A prominent Iraqi novelist expressed that hanging of Saddam was a crime and situation in Iraq would be worst under the US occupation (Bhaie, Jang, 2007).

RESEARCH QUESTION

News events are explained and evaluated within the society’s normative structure and brought to the media within the framework of journalistic norms (Daniel, 1995). Time Magazine’s poll shows that majority of the Asian opposed the war on Iraq but their governments supported this US-led adventure for some military and economic reasons (Beech, 2003). Masloge et al. (2006) believe that coverage given to Iraq war by Asian media may have serious implications in the future. The execution of Saddam is one of the major events happened in the Iraq war scenario. It may also bring some adverse consequences to the regions, particularly to Iraq geographical integrity due to the ongoing intensive Shiite-Sunni violence. A British think-tank said, “Iraq is on the verge of becoming a failed state, leading to a process of fragmentation” (Dawn, 2007). However, the present study examines the opinion pages of the Pakistani press-- the three national dailies-- regarding the execution of Saddam.
            The main question this study has posed is that “How Saddam Hussein’s execution was perceived by the Pakistani press?” The question was answered after reviewing and analyzing the opinion pages of the three selected national dailies.

METHODOLOGY
News events are framed to influence audience members’ perceptions of the social reality (Khan & Farish, 2005). But how much the media is successful in influencing the perceptions of the audiences is a matter of proper investigation. Many studies have been conducted on the extent and nature of coverage given by the press to various national and international issues. Some have examined the flow of foreign-news stories into United States (Mujahid, 1970). Some have compared foreign news in the dailies of the United States and South America (Markham, 1959). Some have studied the flow of news between countries (Hart, 1963; Merrill, 1962) and some have examined the coverage of the news stories by the US magazines (Khan & Farish, 2005). Most of these studies have used the methods of content analysis as space occupied, length and width of columns, length and size of headlines, page location, and number of words in the text. Some studies have adopted this approach by coding the adjectival or other verbal and adverbial terms (Hashem, 1995). But coding such terms without attention to a complete sentence and paragraph of the text could be misleading because the term makes a complete sense only within a complete sentence and paragraph (Khan & Farish, 2005). The contents published in the opinion page needs to expend the area for analysis to the whole text.
So, for this study, content analysis approach was utilized to examine and evaluate the perception of the Pakistani press about the event of Saddam’s execution. Opinion page-- editorials and columns-- of the three widely circulated national dailies were selected for this study. Two dailies were selected from English and one from Urdu newspapers (national language). They were selected from well-established groups of newspaper published in Pakistan: The daily Dawn was selected from the Dawn group of newspapers; The daily Nation from Nawaiwaqt group of newspapers; and The daily Jang form the Jang group of newspapers.
The study also included those articles published on the editorial pages of these dailies that had been taken from the foreign press because principally, it can be counted as an integral part of the Pakistani press on the issue. The contents in editorials and columns on or about Saddam and his execution in these three dailies formed the unit of observation. The units of observation were determined according to the formula introduced by Twohey (Twohey, 1941). According to this formula, these contents were first classified as ‘relevant or irrelevant.’ Relevancy was decided on basis of discussing Saddam’s regime and/or his execution with special reference to the particular event of execution. The relevant contents were then classified in the following fashion:

This classification was decided on the basis of analysis of the theme, and the theme was judged from the editorials and columns as a whole. This approach is appropriate because the words or sentences (favorable/unfavorable) without analyzing the entire body of the text can be misleading.

Time frame
Contents published in fourteen days, from Dec. 31, 2006 to Jan. 15, 2007 were analyzed to address the research question. The dailies were not published on January 2nd and 3rd due to Eid holidays, therefore the period constitutes fourteen published days in total. Dec. 31, 2006 was chosen as the first day of the study because Saddam was executed on the daybreak of Dec. 30, 2006, and editorial and opinions had to be appeared on the next day. January 15, 2007 was chosen as the last day because no editorial or column was published after that date on the issue of execution. The fourteen days is an enough time to analyze the issue within the framework of the above developed classification.

RESULTS

Finding-1. The three national dailies published four editorials in the specified period on this issue and all of them criticized both Saddam regime and his execution equally.

Finding-2. Thirty-two columns were relevant to the issue of Saddam’s execution and his regime published in14 days in the three national dailies. The finding shows that 3.125 percent of the columns have criticized Saddam’s regime only. Over 56 percent of the columns have criticized Saddam’s execution only. 31.25 percent have slightly criticized Saddam’s regime and fully criticized his execution. Over 9 percent of the columns have criticized Saddam’s regime and his execution equally.

See details for number of relevant columns in table-1; for relevant lines in table- 2.
From Dec. 31, 2006 to Jan. 15, 2007 -------- ------------ Total published days: 14

Table-1. No. of relevant columns

Table2- No. of relevant columns’ lines

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
The press has evaluated the event of Saddam’s execution with the relevant background. It has analyzed the present situation and established its relations with the past two decades. The press suggests that Saddam was a strong U.S. ally in the Gulf and worked for the U.S. interest in the region. He was responsible for the deadly war against Iran and Kuwait which killed some one million people and destroyed their economies. Support of the U.S., U.K. and some neighboring Arab countries for these wars was severely criticized by the Pakistani press on this occasion. Majority of the writers contributed in the press believe that Saddam was encouraged by the US ambassador to invade Kuwait. The press criticized the sanctions against Iraq that caused the death of half a million people particularly children in need of medicine.
The overall analysis of the relevant columns gives a strong impression that the present war against terrorism is actually a war against Muslims to establish American hegemony in the region. Saddam was hanged just to please the Shiite population in Iraq that could expedite the ongoing Shiite-Sunni tensions, and consequently will disintegrate Iraq into different ethnic and religious pieces. According to the contributors of the opinion pages of the three dailies, this Balkanization of the country would enable the U.S. administration to easily control the region for the interest of oil resources. Latest situation prevailing in Iraq has partially proved the accuracy of the analysis made and predictions given by various writers. Killing and kidnapping has become a daily norm. No security strategy is working in Iraq and the country has collapsed into an absolute civil war. Allied forces are also facing tough resistance. Head of the U.S. forces in Iraq said that U.S. casualties had mounted because Sunni extremists are starting to fight very hard. He said, “This is a skilled and determined enemy. He’s ruthless. He’s got a thirst for blood like I’ve never seen anywhere in my life. And he’s determined to do whatever he can” (Associated Press, June, 30, 2007).

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ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Dr. Farish Ullah Yousafzai is an associate professor in the Centre for Media and Communication Studies, International Islamic University Islamabad, Pakistan. He carries over 23 years teaching and research experience at university level. His research interest includes health communication campaigns and media effects. His research articles have been published in national and regional journals. He has completed his post-doctoral research fellowship from the WKW School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

Bakht Rawan (Ph. D) is working as Assistant Professor in the Department of Mass Communication, Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU), Islamabad. He has done his Ph.D from the University of Leipzig, Germany. He is a DAAD scholar. His area of interest in mass communication research is ‘media sociology, and uses and effects of the mass media content’. He has also worked in a couple of national daily newspapers. He may be contacted on: byusafzai@yahoo.com