| Tuesday, January 16, 2007 |
| Saddam’s aides - Barzan Ibrahim, an ex-intelligence chief, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar - hanged |
Former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein’s half-brother Barzan Ibrahim, an ex-intelligence chief, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, former chief justice of the Revolutionary Court, were hanged on Monday for their roles in the killing of 148 men and boys in Iraq in 1982.
The two men were executed at the same time, a government source said. There were witnesses to observe protocol.
Two officials in Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's office, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the hangings took place around 6 a.m. local time.
The two Saddam aides were executed at the same location where the former Iraqi president was hanged on December 16, 2006. The execution site was a building where Saddam Hussein’s intelligence officers had hanged many people. The building is located in the Shiite neighbourhood of Kazimiyah.
The two were to have been hanged along with Saddam on December 30, 2006, but Iraqi authorities had decided to execute Saddam alone on what National Security adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie called a “special day.”
Last week, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani had urged the government to delay the executions. “In my opinion, we should wait,” Talabani had said on Wednesday, at a news conference with US Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad. “We should examine the situation,” he had said, without elaborating.
Badia Aref, a lawyer for former judge Awad al-Bandar, told CNN that his client and Saddam’s half-brother and former intelligence chief Barzan had been hanged.
However, Jaafar al-Moussawi, chief prosecutor in the case, told Reuters that he was unaware of an execution and was seeking information. By law, one of the prosecution team must be present at hangings. His deputy in the case, Munkith al-Faroon, denied reports that he had confirmed that the executions took place.
Worldwide controversy over Saddam’s hanging has made Iraqi officials reluctant to speak on record about the executions.
The illegal recording on mobile phone of Saddam being taunted by Shi’ite observers at his execution had angered many in his Sunni Arab minority, embarrassed the Shi’ite-led government and the United States Administration as well as triggered sectarian tensions in Iraq.
Barzan was a feared figure in Iraq at the head of the intelligence service in the 1980s. Bandar presided over the Revolutionary Court which sentenced 148 Shi’ite men and youths to death after an assassination attempt on Saddam in the town of Dujail in 1982. The two had been convicted, along with Saddam, on November 5, 2006, of crimes against humanity by the US-sponsored High Tribunal.Labels: iraq |
| posted by a correspondent @ 12:49 AM |
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