Iraq government to investigate video of Saddam being taunted

Published on Wednesday 3 January 2007 00:49

Key quote

"Frankly, to get this kind of recorded message coming out is totally unacceptable, and I think whoever is involved and responsible for it should be ashamed of themselves." - JOHN PRESCOTT

Story in full UNEASE at home and abroad about the execution of Saddam Hussein yesterday forced the Iraqi government to order an investigation into unauthorised filming of the former dictator being taunted and abused in the minutes before his hanging.

The inquiry was launched as Saddam's sympathisers staged protests across Iraq at his treatment, and John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, deplored the manner of the former president's death.

Saddam was hanged in the early hours of Saturday morning on the orders of an Iraqi court. The official Iraqi government footage of the execution appeared to show the toppled dictator going to his death with a degree of dignity.

But another film, apparently taken using a mobile phone, quickly surfaced. It appears to show several of the witnesses to the execution mocking Saddam, taunting the Sunni former president by using the name of Moqtada al-Sadr, a militant Shia Iraqi religious leader.

The Iraqi government coalition depends on al-Sadr's support in parliament, and several of the cleric's supporters are known to have been present at Saddam's execution, which was held behind closed doors in a former secret-police building in Baghdad.

Munkith al-Faroon, a prosecutor in Saddam's trial for mass murder, yesterday revealed that he warned those insulting the condemned man that if they did not stop he would leave, rendering the execution illegal.

Despite some suggestions that the unauthorised footage was taken by security guards, Mr Faroon insisted that he saw at least two senior government officials recording the hanging.

While Britain formally opposed the death penalty, ministers had been cautious about commenting on Saddam's killing until the emergence of the second film.

Mr Prescott, the most senior member of the government during Tony Blair's absence on holiday, yesterday described the manner of Saddam's death as "deplorable". Speaking on BBC Radio Four, Mr Prescott said: "Frankly, to get this kind of recorded message coming out is totally unacceptable, and I think whoever is involved and responsible for it should be ashamed of themselves."

While the Iraqi government insisted that Saddam had been tried and sentenced by an independent judicial process, officials conceded that an investigation into the filming of the execution was justified.

Khudayer al-Khuzai, the deputy justice minister, said it appeared some guards violated instructions not to bring mobile phones or cameras.

"The Iraqi government is going to have an investigation into what happened," he said. "This operation should be done with the highest standards of discipline and with respect for the condemned man, both when he's alive and once he's dead."

DEATH PENALTY ROW

A DIPLOMATIC row erupted between Italy and Iraq yesterday after the execution of Saddam Hussein prompted Rome to call for an international moratorium on the death penalty.

Furious Iraqi officials accused Italy of interfering in their affairs after it announced that "formal steps" would be taken at the United Nations to end state executions.

Yassin Majid, an aide to the Iraqi prime minister, compared the legal process of Saddam's trial with the treatment of war-time fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, who was shot with his mistress, Clarretta Petacci, and their bodies strung from a petrol station in Milan.

Mr Majid said: "In Europe, Italy above all, and prime minister Romano Prodi, should stop interfering in Iraqi internal matters. Italy was the country at the end of the Second World War [that] put Mussolini on trial for a minute.

"The judge asked his name, he replied 'Benito Mussolini', and the judge said: 'The tribunal condemns you to death', and the sentence was carried out immediately."

Mr Prodi hit back at Mr Majid's comments, saying: "What sort of argument is that? Do they not realise that was 1945 and the world has moved on significantly since then, especially when it comes to the death sentence?"