Maliki demands U.S. hand over prisoners for execution

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's prime minister accused the U.S. military on Sunday of thwarting attempts to execute former members of Saddam Hussein's government and demanded they be handed over so their sentences could be carried out.

A court in September upheld the death sentences against Saddam's cousin, Ali Hassan al-Majeed, former Defence Minister Sultan Hashem, and a former army commander, Hussein Rashid Muhammad. Under Iraq's constitution the sentence should have been carried out within 30 days.

The three were convicted of genocide for their roles in a campaign against Iraq's Kurds in 1988.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said the U.S. embassy had played an "unfortunate role" in preventing the handover of the three prisoners, who, like many other high-ranking members of Saddam's government, are in U.S. military custody.

"We insist on implementing the verdict against all the defendants and they should be delivered so the decision against them can be implemented," he told reporters in Baghdad.