Iraq Government Orders Probe Into Conduct Of Saddam Hanging
12:26 EST Tuesday, January 02, 2007
BAGHDAD (AP)--The prime minister Tuesday ordered an investigation into the conduct of Saddam Hussein's execution in a bid to learn who in the group of witnesses taunted the former Iraqi leader in the last minutes of his life then leaked a cell phone video of his death to an Arab satellite television station and Internet site.
The video contained audio of some witnesses taunting Saddam with chants of " Muqtada" and of the former leader responding. It surfaced on Al-Jazeera television and the Internet late Saturday, the day Saddam was hanged shortly before dawn.
Al-Jazeera said when it broadcast the video that it was exclusive to them. The pictures appeared on the Web at about the same time.
The taunts hurled at Saddam referred to Muqtada al-Sadr, the radical Shiite cleric who is a main backer of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, the Shiite leader who pushed for a quick execution of Saddam.
Sami al-Askar, a close al-Maliki political adviser, told The Associated Press Tuesday that the Iraqi leader had "ordered the formation of an investigative committee in the Interior Ministry to identify who chanted slogans inside the execution chamber and who filmed the execution and sent it to the media."
The videotape was particularly inflammatory not only because the disrespectful chanting was clearly audible, but also for showing Saddam's actual death as he dropped through the gallows floor and then swung by his neck, his eyes open and his neck twisted dramatically to his right.
The clandestine video portrayed a much different scene than the official tape of the execution which was muted. It did not show the former leader dropping to his death.
Munqith al-Faroon, an Iraqi prosecutor whose job was to convict Saddam Hussein of genocide, was one of the small group of witnesses at the hanging and defended Saddam's right to die in peace.
He said he knew that "two top officials...had their mobile phones with them ( at the execution). There were no mobile phones allowed at that time."
Saddam's execution and the way it was conducted have provoked anger among Sunni Muslims, who have taken to the streets in recent days in mainly peaceful demonstrations in Sunni enclaves across the country.
Sunnis were not only outraged by Saddam's hurried execution, just four days after an appeals court upheld his conviction and sentence. Many were also incensed by the unruly scene in the execution chamber.
Many Sunnis are also upset that Saddam was put to death the day that Sunni celebrations began for Eid al-Adha, a major Muslim festival. The judge who first presided over the case that resulted in Saddam's death sentence said the former dictator's execution at the start of Eid was illegal according to Iraqi law, and contradicted Islamic custom.
The law states that "no verdict should be implemented during the official holidays or religious festivals," said Judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin, a Kurd.
Rizgar presided over Saddam's trial on charges he killed 148 Shiite men and boys in Dujail, north of Baghdad, after a botched assassination attempt in 1982. The judge stepped down from the case after Shiite complaints that he was too lenient.
Corrected Jan. 2, 2007 12:25ET (18:25 GMT)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
01-02-07 1204ET
Copyright (c) 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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