Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the Iraqi government this weekend to give a stay of execution to those on death row, specifically two high-ranking co-defendants of Saddam Hussein.

"His Chef de Cabinet, Vijay Nambiar, in a letter to Iraq's UN ambassador, today reiterated the Secretary General's endorsement of the call made earlier this month by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, for restraint by the Government in carrying out death sentences imposed by the Iraqi High Tribunal." More

Related: Rome lit up the arches of the Colosseum to show Italy's support for a global ban on the death penalty. More