The only good thing (for the US and Iraqi puppet gov't) is that a video of this botched hanging hasn't been released into the wilds of the internet, yet, like what occured with the "death squad" lynchin' of Saddam...
Sunnis blast hanging of 2 Saddam aides
BAGHDAD, Iraq - (AP) The Iraqi government's attempt Monday to close a chapter on Saddam Hussein's repressive regime — by hanging two of his henchmen — only appeared to anger many of Saddam's fellow Sunni Muslims after the former leader's half brother was decapitated on the gallows. A thickset Barzan Ibrahim plunged through the trap door and was beheaded by the jerk of the thick beige rope at the end of his fall, in the same the execution chamber where Saddam was hanged a little over two weeks earlier.
A government video of the hanging, played at a briefing for reporters, showed Ibrahim's body passing the camera in a blur. The body came to rest on its chest while the severed head lay a few yards away, still wearing the black hood pulled on moments before by one of Ibrahim's five masked executioners.... (more)
The decapitation appeared inadvertent, and Iraqi officials seemed anxious to prove they hadn't mutilated Ibrahim's remains....
....While Ibrahim's body was wrenched apart by the execution, his co-defendant, Awad Hamed al-Bandar, head of Saddam's Revolutionary court, died as expected — swinging at the end of a rope. Both men met death at 3 a.m. wearing reddish orange prison jumpsuits.
Prosecutor Jaafar al-Moussawi, who witnessed the hangings, said Ibrahim looked tense and protested his innocence as he was brought into the chamber. The condemned man had once ran Saddam's feared security agency, the Mukhabarat.
"I did not do anything," al-Moussawi quoted Ibrahim as saying. "It was all the work of Fadel al-Barrak." Al-Barrak ran two intelligence departments in Saddam's feared Mukhabarat.
Saddam was hanged amid shouted taunts and insults from Shiite witnesses — a scene Iraqi officials said was not repeated Monday.
All three executions took place in Saddam-era military intelligence headquarters, located in the north Baghdad neighborhood of Kazimiyah, a Shiite area.
By day's end at least 3,000 angry Sunnis, many firing guns in the air, others weeping or cursing the government, assembled for the burials of Ibrahim and al-Bandar in Saddam's hometown of Ouja, near Tikrit, 80 miles north of Baghdad.
"Where are those who cry out in demands for human rights?" Marwan Mohammed, one of the mourners, asked in grief and frustration. "Where are the U.N. and the world's human rights organizations? Barzan had cancer. They treated him only to keep him alive long enough to kill him. We vow to take revenge, even if it takes years."... (full report)
By STEVEN R. HURST - Associated Press correspondents Bassem Mroue and Qassim Abdul-Zahra contributed to this report.
Also of great interest are Qassim Abdul-Zahra's first two draft reports immediately following the hanging/beheading. Grab 'em before they swirl down the memory hole..
Saddam Half Brother, Ex-Official Hanged
By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, The Associated Press
Jan 15, 2007 4:14 AM (2 hrs 34 mins ago)
Current rank: # 26 of 11,379 articles
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Saddam Hussein's half brother and the former head of Iraq's Revolutionary Court were hanged before dawn Monday, two weeks and two days after the former Iraqi dictator was executed in a chaotic scene that has drawn worldwide criticism.
In confirming the executions, government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the head of one of the accused, Barzan Ibrahim, had been severed during the hanging in what he called "a rare incident."
But he stressed that all laws and rules were respected during the proceedings, choosing his words carefully after Saddam's execution became an unruly scene that brought worldwide criticism of the Iraqi government. Video of the execution, recorded on a cell phone camera, showed the former dictator being taunted on the gallows.
"Those present signed documents pledging not to violate the rules or otherwise face legal penalties. All the people present abided by the government's rule and there were no violations," he said, adding the hangings occurred at 3 a.m. "No one shouted slogans or said anything that would taint the execution. None of those charged were insulted."... (full report)
Saddam Half Brother, Ex-Official Hanged
By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, The Associated Press
Jan 15, 2007 3:32 AM (3 hrs ago)
Current rank: # 7 of 11,347 articles
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The half brother of Saddam Hussein, along with the former head of Iraq's Revolutionary Court, were hanged before dawn Monday, a government spokesman said. The executions came two weeks after Saddam's chaotic hanging, which provoked widespread criticism of the Iraqi government.
Barzan Ibrahim, Saddam's half brother and former intelligence chief, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, head of Iraq's Revolutionary Court, were found guilty along with Saddam in the killing of 148 Shiite Muslims after a 1982 assassination attempt on the former leader in Dujail, north of Baghdad.
Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh confirmed the executions took place, saying those attending the hangings included a prosecutor, a judge and a physician.
He also said Ibrahim's head was severed from his body during his hanging.
"In a rare incident, the head of the accused Barzan Ibrahim al-Hassan was separated from his body during the execution," al-Dabbagh told reporters.
The executions reportedly occurred in the same Saddam-era military intelligence headquarters building in north Baghdad where the former leader was hanged two days before the end of 2006, according to an Iraqi general, who would not allow use of his name because he was not authorized to release the information. The building is located in the Shiite neighborhood of Kazimiyah.
The two men were to have been hanged along with Saddam on Dec. 30, but Iraqi authorities decided to execute Saddam alone on what National Security adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie called a "special day."
Last week, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani urged the government to delay the executions.
"In my opinion we should wait," Talabani said Wednesday at a news conference with U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad. "We should examine the situation," he said without elaborating.
Saddam's execution became an unruly scene that brought worldwide criticism of the Iraqi government. Video of the execution, recorded on a cell phone camera, showed the former dictator being taunted on the gallows.... (full report)
