Investigation launched into Saddam execution taunts

Published on Wednesday 3 January 2007 11:57

IRAQ'S Prime Minister has ordered an investigation into Saddam Hussein's execution to try to uncover who taunted the former dictator in the last minutes of his life, and who leaked footage taken by camera phone of the hanging.

The unofficial video, on which at least one person is heard shouting "To hell!" at the deposed president and Saddam is heard exchanging insults with his executioners, dealt a blow to Iraq's efforts to prove it was a neutral enforcer of the law.

Instead, the emotional, politicised spectacle raised tensions between the Shia majority and Sunni Arabs.

A prosecutor who saw the hanging said some of the taunting came from guards outside the execution chamber, not the masked ones who put the noose around Saddam's neck.

The Iraqi government did not say what, if any, punishment would await anyone uncovered in its probe of guards and 14 selected witnesses who attended the execution.