Former Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan will be sentenced to death within five weeks after an appeals court ruled his previous sentence of life in prison was too lenient, media reported Thursday quoting a spokesman for the Iraqi High Tribunal.

"A session will be held Jan. 25 in which a judge will read a new sentence against former vice-president Taha Yassin Ramadan," said Raid Juhi, the spokesman.

Ramadan was convicted of premeditated murder on Nov. 5, 2006 and sentenced to life in prison. A month later, the appeals court said the sentence was too lenient and returned his case to the High Tribunal, demanding he be sentenced to death.

Former chief of Iraq's Revolutionary Court Awad Hamed al-Bandarhad and Saddam's half brother Barzan Ibrahim were hanged on Jan. 15, two weeks and two days after Saddam's execution on Dec. 30.