The Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS - The top U.N. diplomat said Monday he could not support bringing captured Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein before a tribunal that might sentence him to death.

"The U.N. does not support death penalty. In all the courts we have set up (U.N. officials) have not included death penalty," Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a brief encounter with reporters at the United Nations.

"And so as secretary-general, as the U.N., as an organization, we are not going to now turn around and support a death penalty," Annan said.

Last week, Iraq's Governing Council adopted a measure setting up a war crimes tribunal.

Council members have said since Saddam's capture Saturday that he would be tried before the special tribunal and could face the death penalty.