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Further Executions in Iraq

Saddam's Co-Defendants Hanged

Despite calls for a delay, the Iraqi government has gone ahead with the executions of Saddam Hussein's co-defendants Barzan Ibrahim and Awad Hamed al-Bandar. Barzan was decapitated during the hanging, prompting accusations of mutilation from Sunnis.

Despite appeals to delay the executions, Saddam Hussein's half brother Barzan Ibrahim and the former Iraqi chief justice Awad Hamed al-Bandar were hanged before dawn on Monday morning.

The two had been found guilty along with Saddam Hussein of the massacre of 148 Shiites in 1982 following an assassination attempt on the former dictator at the village of Dujail.

The executions took place at 3 a.m. local time in the same building where Saddam was hanged on Dec. 30. The manner of that execution sparked controversy after mobile phone footage of him being taunted during the hanging leaked out.

In the light of those chaotic scenes, Iraqi officials had hoped that things would go more smoothly this time. However, Barzan was decapitated during the hanging. Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh admitted that Barzan's head had been separated from his body by the rope during the hanging, in what he called "a rare incident."

Dabbagh stressed that all laws and rules were respected during the proceedings and all those present were asked to sign a declaration that they would behave appropriately. "There was no violation of procedure," he told a news conference.

However, the decapitation of Barzan has led to accusations of mutilation from the Sunni community. Khalaf al-Olayan, the leader of the main Sunni bloc in the Iraqi parliament, has demanded to see any video taken during the execution. "It is impossible for a person to be decapitated during hanging," he told Al-Jazeera television. "This shows that they have mutilated the body and this is a violation of the law."

Barzan Ibrahim was a long-time advisor to his half brother, Saddam Hussein. From 1979 to 1983 he was head of the dreaded Iraqi secret police, the Mukhabarat, and he then went on to serve as Iraqi ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva from 1988 to 1997.

Awad Hamed al-Bandar was head of the Iraqi Revolutionary Court which sentenced the 148 Shiite men and youths to death. Prosecutors in his trial said that Bandar had sentenced some of the men from Dujail to death after they had already been killed and that some of those executed were younger than 18.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said last Wednesday that he thought there should be a delay in executing the two men. "In my opinion we should wait," he said. The United Nations and Human Rights Watch had urged the Iraqi government to reconsider the use of the death penalty altogether.

smd/spiegel/reuters/ap