Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein executed

Saddam Hussein Forum

POSTED: 11:07 p.m. EST, December 29, 2006

Story Highlights
• NEW: Official: "Saddam's body is in front me. It's over."
• NEW: Witnesses report people "dancing around the body"
• Hussein lawyers lost last-minute appeal in U.S. court
• No details on where execution took place

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein has been executed, a witness said.

"Saddam's body is in front me," said an official in the prime minister's office when CNN telephoned. "It's over."

In the background, Shiite chanting could be heard. When asked about the chanting, the official said "These are employees of the prime minister's office and government chanting in celebration."

The witness reported that celebrations broke out after Hussein was dead, and that there was "dancing around the body."

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki did not attend the execution, according to an adviser to the prime minister who was interviewed on state television.

The execution was videotaped and photographed, state television reported, and those images will be distributed to the media.

Al-Arabiya television network reported that Barzan Hassan, Hussein's half-brother, and Awad Bandar, former chief justice of the Revolutionary Court, were hanged after Hussein. All three were convicted of killings in the Iraqi town of Dujail nearly 25 years ago.

Earlier, Munir Haddad, a judge on the appeals court that upheld the former dictator's death sentence, and an adviser to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki each confirmed the paperwork needed for Hussein's execution had been prepared late Friday.

At the same time, a U.S. district judge refused a request to stay the execution.

Attorney Nicholas Gilman said in an application for a restraining order, filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Washington, that a stay would allow Hussein "to be informed of his rights and take whatever action he can and may wish to pursue."

Haddad had called Gilman's filing "rubbish," and said, "It will not delay carrying out the sentence," which he called "final."

Haddad wouldn't disclose the location of the execution and said it wouldn't be broadcast live on TV because of human rights issues.

Throughout the day, there were conflicting reports about who had custody of Hussein. Giovanni di Stefano, one of Hussein's defense attorneys, told CNN the U.S. military officially informed him that the former Iraqi dictator had been transferred to Iraqi but that the move in U.S. court could have meant that Hussein was back in U.S. custody.

There had been speculation that Hussein would be executed before Eid Al-Adha -- a holiday period that means Feast of the Sacrifice, celebrated by Muslims around the world at the climax of the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. The law does not permit executions to be carried out during religious holidays.

Eid began Saturday for Sunnis and Sunday for Shiites and lasts for four days. Hussein is a Sunni Muslim.

Meeting with half-brothers

Another defense lawyer, Badie Aref, told CNN that Hussein met with two of his half-brothers in his cell on Thursday and passed on messages and instructions to his family.

"President Saddam was just bracing for the worst, so he wanted to see his brothers and pass on some messages and instructions to his family," Aref said. The half brothers who visited were Sabawi and Wathban Ibrahim Hassan al-Tikriti, he said.

Another of Hussein's half-brothers, Barzan al-Tikriti, has been sentenced to death and is being held in Iraq under the same charges as Hussein.

Aref said the U.S. soldiers guarding Hussein on Tuesday took away a radio he kept in his cell so he could not hear news reports about his death sentence, which was confirmed that day.

"They did not want him to hear the news from the appeals court upholding the sentence," he said. "They gave him back the radio on Wednesday."

Aref said Saddam found out about the appeals court verdict "a few hours after it was announced."

Crimes against humanity

Hussein was convicted on November 5 of crimes against humanity in connection with the killings of 148 people in the rown of Dujail after an attempt on his life.

The dictator was found guilty of murder, torture and forced deportation.

The Dujail episode falls within 12 of the worst cases out of 500 documented "baskets of crimes" during the Hussein regime.

The U.S. State Department says torture and extrajudicial killings followed the Dujail killings and that 550 men, women and children were arrested without warrants.

CNN's Aneesh Raman, Arwa Damon, Ryan Chilcote, Sam Dagher, Jomana Karadsheh and Ed Henry contributed to this report.

Well, I guess that it's finally over. Though, I'm sure that we're going to see backlash from this, somehow. And, someone, somewhere, just as evil as him, or even worse, will rise to replace him. It always happens. He replaced Hitler. Even though there were differences... they were both rulers who commited heinous and evil things upon thousands of innocents.

What you said about as people as evil as him reminded me of something. When I was in the Gulf we herd daily stories about the things that Sadamm did to people and we heard about the amputations, organ removal, tongue removal, fingers sliced off arms and legs broken all of these acts were carried out by a man in a mask. Now there were other things just as bad but my friend had a theory that because Sadamm kept his allies very very close is it at all possible that the guy in the mask was always the same guy or maybe one of two guys that Sadamm employed to do his dirty work. If that is true then somebody not as bad but as evil as Sadamm is probably walking free to day.

Absolutely so lodgebo but Saddam was the head of it all. Besides, I’m sure many of those within is regime, like the hooded guy had no choice but to follow his orders or else they would be the person on the opposite side of the hood.

Yes but do you rember Nurenburg "we were following orders" was not deemed a legitimate defence

Partial video was released if anyone is interested. Go to this page and look to the left. Its under related video:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061230...mi_ea/saddam_57

the excution - video Graphic

They have it on YouTube also.

I don't know about anyone else, but it was like watching something on tv. It wasn't "real" if you know what I mean. I don't think that I would feel anything unless it was right in front of me, in real life. Seeing it like that was too disconnected in my mind. But, he's gone.

Who knows. No matter what happens you're gonna piss someone off over there. You're damned if you do, damned if you don't, damned if you kind of do and damned if you sorta don't.

-HECK!

Well the offical in charge of the execution has blasted the guards who chanted during the execution and he claimed that he almost called the whole thing off because of the witnesses and guards behaviour.
In the UK deputy Prime Minister John Presscott ( looks like Jabba the Hut BTW) has condemmed the mobile video and said that the perosn who posted it on the internet was deplorable.

Saddam Hussein did not receive a fair trial and his actions as president will never come to light. The fact that he was executed before the end of his second trial speaks to the horrid justice system set up in Iraq with the full support of the US government. If this was Cuba, you'd see the US government talking about how barbaric Fidel Castro is. Imagine all the Iraqis that will be tried under this system now, are you seriously telling me such a system is fair? Within two months of being found guilty, I am now put to death?

They created such a system so they could kill Hussein quickly, thus all his crimes and cooperation with the US and European governments in the 1980's will go with him to the grave. Whatever happened to the trial about gassing the Kurds? Bah, this will now lead to more violence as it appears this was pushed by the Shiites in the Iraqi government.

It has been reported that the perosn who videoed the execution on his mobile phone has been arrested.

United States sending message to other puppet dictators who want to challenge America's hegemonic plan.

Isn't there a picture of Rumsfield shaking Sadaam's hand? Conservative media doesn't mention America was main supplier of weopons to Iraq. Why hasn't it taken America so long to hold Saadom accoutibl;e?

The voiceover fella during a Saddam bio on TV mentioned that "western intelligence agencies" helped Saddam's crew in the Baath party come to power. I was like, um, you mean CIA don't you? Wasn't sure why they didn't want to come out and say it.

Malcom does have a point in that mainstream America may not be aware or care to remember how the Iraqi/U.S. relationship used to be. How we turned a cheek when Saddam gassed the Iranians and such.

-HECK!

There has been more condemnation fired at the Iraqi government from the UK. This time it was Gordon Brown who is the Chancellor and likely to be next Prime Minister he described the taunting and other activities before the election as deplorable. So far that make Brown, Presscott and most of the cabinet condemming Iraq and tonight Downing Street ( not Blair) gave it's support to Brown.
Iraqi offcials have diplomatically told the UK to shut up claiming it is an internal matter however it's not really it's out troops on the ground who have to control any uprising or retaliation over Sadamms execution ( in Iraq and at home to) so if we are liekly to be involved it's not an internal situation.
Also Libya today announced that they are planning to build a statue of Sadamm in Tripolli which resulted in Iraq cutting off relations with Libya though I can't imagine that having a huge effect on Libya.

Which statement is it that you want clairified?

A few interesting twists on the Hussein execution: Hussein's lawyer is threatening to sue the Iraqi authorities for abuse to his dead body, and she also says that Muqtada al-Sadr was at the execution. Muqtada al-Sadr claims that Saddam Hussein killed his father.

Tony Blair has come out today and said that he felt Saddams execution was unacceptable.

Well there is very little he can do aprt make his opinion and let people know waht he thought about the hanging and that's all he is doing as has pretty much every politician in the UK.

Personally I would like to hear what Bush and his Iraqi counterpart thought about the conditions surronding the hanging.

Considering everything that could have gone wrong, I find all the hand wringing about the tone of the execution to be much ado about nothing.

First of all, they ended Saddam's rule.

Second, they captured him.

Third, they had a trial that was long enough to be generally deemed fair, but not so long that he died of old age.

Fourth, he was executed.

High level executions of ruthless dictators are bound to tinged with vengeance. It is part of the theater.

Don't you remember all the purple-fingered Iraqi's though? They elected the government

-HECK!

I counted three cities at least, I think you are thinking about Afghanistan elections.

Well not really, when you think about Afghanistan a huge amount of the people live in or around Kabul the rest of the country were smaller villages and for the most part I don't think the people in these areas really cared about the elections.

Not really they just kind of get on with life. Of course the bigger villages have a kind of political system manily based on the oldest or best educated making the descions and then there are the areas ruled by the warlords. Fact is that Afghanistans government rules only as far as Kabul the rest of the country is still pretty much acting the way it did before the war.

Back to Iraq the offcial turnout was 54% so thats around 9 million voters around 2% of sunnis refused to vote and the Kurds recieved around 2 million votes so thats around 26%. So if the Kurds recieved that many votes and the sunnis refused to vote then the election had to have been in more than 1 city probably more than 3.

I wonder if Iraq survives as a united country after the civil war they're waging now. Probably there will be three countries: Shia, Sunni and Kurdish. The Kurdish have installed border pickets as I was told.

Well then you will be able to prove it right. So as they say put up or shut up.