Iraq’s capital and the surrounding areas are being shut down tomorrow, Sunday. The reason is that Iraq’s former president Saddam Hussein will get the verdict in the trial that has been running for quite some time now.

After a failed assassination attempt on Hussein in Dujail in 1982, people were jailed and tortured and the government is suspected of ordering the execution of 148 people. Hussein and seven others are now on trial for crimes against humanity in Dujail.

Hussein should probably be trialed for a lot of things, bus this might be the last court room he’ll ever see - if he is found guilty he risks the death penalty and execution by hanging.

Baghdad is now being locked down for the verdict to prevent more violence between Sunni and Shiite Muslims. Sunni Muslims are estimated at more than 30 percent of Iraq’s population and the minority ruled Iraq until Hussein’s fall in 2003. Not surprisingly, the Sunni Muslims are amongst the majority of the insurgents battling the interim Iraq government. Shiite Muslims represent about 60 percent of Iraq’s people and were largely oppressed under Saddam’s rule and the people killed in Dujail were Shiite Muslims.

What is interesting are the reports that many Iraq’s are now indifferent when it comes to the outcome of the trial. Being indifferent when it comes to the fate of a person like Saddam Hussein is probably not a very good idea.

Those Who Forget History Are Doomed to Repeat It - George Santayana.