|
January
2, 2007
The Iraqi government opened an inquiry after grainy
footage of the execution of former leader
Saddam Hussein on the Internet enraged Iraq's
Sunni Muslims.
The inquiry will seek to determine how a witness to
the Dec. 30 execution filmed the hanging and posted
it on the Internet, President Jalal Talabani's
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party said on its
Arabic-language Web site.
The footage showing witnesses taunting Hussein as he
stood with a noose around his neck inflamed Iraq's
sectarian tensions.
Sunni Muslims, the minority in Iraq to which Hussein
belonged, demonstrated in the town of Samara
yesterday.
The Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television channel showed
many armed with Kalashnikov rifles as some lifted
fake coffins and pictures of the former leader. Also
yesterday, Hussein's daughter, Raghab, addressed a
protest in predominantly Sunni Jordan.
In the video, a witness shouted ``go to hell'' after
Hussein asked them ``is this how you show bravery as
men?'' Repeated shouts of ``Moqtada!'' followed.
The chants referred to Iraqi Shiite Muslim leader
Moqtada al-Sadr, whose father was allegedly killed
on the orders of Hussein's government.
A man's voice in the video appealed for quiet,
saying, ``please, I am begging you not to. This man
is about to be executed.'' Hussein was then heard
praying as the trapdoor beneath him opened; he fell
in mid-prayer. Moments later, the video showed
Hussein hanging, obviously dead.
The footage contrasts with a soundless segment aired
on Iraqi state television showing Hussein quietly
led to the execution platform by masked men.
Hussein was sentenced to death on Nov. 5 by the
Iraqi Higher Criminal Court for his role in the
killing of 148 Shiite Muslims in the village of
Dujail following an attempt on his life there in
1982.
Ousted by the U.S.-led March 2003 invasion of Iraq, he was arrested by a
U.S. patrol which found him in a bunker in Adwar, a
village south of his hometown of Tikrit, in December
that year.
bloomberg com
Top |
® 