Rome to Support Death Penalty Moratorium

ROME -- Rome will light up the Colosseum on Saturday in support of Italy's push at the United Nations for a worldwide moratorium on the death penalty, launched after a wave of denunciations across Europe over Saddam Hussein's execution.

Mayor Walter Veltroni said in a statement Friday that the lighting was a signal of "hope" and an encouragement for Premier Romano Prodi's government, which this week began a diplomatic push to have the issue taken up by the U.N. General Assembly.

Rome's Colosseum, once the arena for deadly gladiator combat and executions, has become a symbol of Italy's anti-death penalty stance. Since 1999, the 1st century monument has been bathed in golden light every time a death sentence is commuted somewhere in the world or a country abolishes capital punishment.

Italy, which is now one of the rotating members of the U.N. Security Council, has lobbied unsuccessfully in the past for U.N. action against the death penalty.

Saddam's execution by hanging on Saturday was denounced virtually across Italy's political spectrum, with former premier and conservative opposition leader Silvio Berlusconi calling the killing a political error and center-left leader Prodi expressing worry that the execution would fuel more violence in Iraq.

Italy and all other European Union countries do not permit capital punishment.