'Saddam death sentence unlikely to be overruled'

The death penalty sentence against Saddam Hussein will most likely be upheld on appeal, one of his defence lawyers said in a newspaper interview published in Portugal on Saturday.
An Iraqi court sentenced Saddam, ousted in a US-led invasion in 2003, to hang on December 5 for the deaths of 148 Shias in an Iraqi village in 1982 after an attempt in to assassinate him.
Saddam's legal team launched an appeals procedure against the death penalty the following day but defence lawyer Najib al-Nueimi said he was not optimistic that the sentence would be altered because the court proceedings lacked legitimacy.