[JURIST] The Dalai Lama [BBC profile] called Sunday for the sparing of Saddam Hussein's life in the face of the death sentence [JURIST report] imposed on him last Sunday in the Dujail crimes against humanity case, telling reporters "however horrible an act a person may have committed, everyone has the potential to improve and correct himself." The exiled Tibetan leader and recipient of the 1989 Nobel Peace prize [official materials] was ending a two-week visit to Japan Sunday when he said he "hope[d] that, in the case of Saddam Hussein, as with all others, that human life will be respected and spared."

The Dalai Lama has been an outspoken critic of the death penalty [official message], calling it "very clearly a form of revenge." AFP has more.