New Delhi: A day after the Iraqi authorities executed two Saddam aides, his half-brother and intelligence chief Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti and former judge Awad Hamed al-Bander, there has been anger and suspicion across Iraq over reports of an alleged beheading of one of the two at the gallows.
A film of the executions, which was shown to journalists by the Iraqi authorities hours after the execution, showed the two trembling with fear and Saddam's half-brother Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti being beheaded by the noose.
In the video, the two stood side-by-side on what appears to be the same gallows where Saddam Hussein was hanged two weeks ago. But unlike Saddam, the two wore orange jumpsuits and were given hoods. When the trap opened, Barzan's head was wrenched from his body and came to rest in a pool of blood below the gallows while former judge Iwad al-Bander swung on a rope beside him.
Earlier, in an official release the Iraqi government had admitted that the head of Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti was torn from his body by the force of the rope during the execution. Like Saddam, Bander muttered the Muslim declaration of faith "There is no god, but God" before his death.
Both men appeared frightened on the scaffold. There was no repeat of the sectarian taunting that marred Saddam's execution when it was revealed by illicit mobile phone video footage. The government officials said they did not intend to release the film to the public.
While the Iraqi Shias welcomed the hanging, Sunni Arabs expressed shock that Barzan's head was ripped off by the noose. In Saddam and Barzan's home town of Tikrit, a black banner was raised on the main mosque named after Saddam, saying: "The people of Tikrit mourn the two martyrs... killed by sectarian hands."
"There is no way a head would be ripped off the body during a hanging. I'm sure they mutilated the bodies after they hanged them," said Ahmed Mustafa, a 30-year-old student in the northern city of Mosul. He accused the Shia-led Iraqi government of 'sucking the blood of the people'.
(With agency reports)
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