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Iraq executes two tried with Hussein

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published January 15, 2007

BAGHDAD - Saddam Hussein's half brother and the former head of Iraq's Revolutionary Court were hanged before dawn today, prosecutor Munqith al-Faroon said, two weeks and two days after the former Iraqi dictator was executed in a chaotic scene that has drawn worldwide criticism.

Barzan Ibrahim, Hussein's half brother and former intelligence chief, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar head of Iraq's Revolutionary Court, had been found guilty along with Hussein in the killing of 148 Shiite Muslims after a 1982 assassination attempt on the former leader in the town of Dujail north of Baghdad.

"They (the government) called us before dawn and told us to send someone. I sent a judge to witness the execution and it happened," Faroon said.

The executions reportedly occurred in the same Hussein-era military intelligence headquarters building in north Baghdad where the former leader was hanged Dec. 30, an Iraqi general told the Associated Press. He would not allow use of his name because he was not authorized to release the information. The building is located in the Shiite neighborhood of Kazimiyah.

The two men were to have been hanged along with Hussein, but Iraqi authorities decided to execute Hussein alone on what national security adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie called a "special day."

Last week, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani urged the government to delay the executions.

"In my opinion we should wait," Talabani said Wednesday at a news conference with U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad. "We should examine the situation," he said without elaborating.

Hussein's execution became an unruly scene that brought worldwide criticism of the Iraqi government. Video of the execution, recorded on a cell phone camera, showed the former dictator being taunted on the gallows.

[Last modified January 15, 2007, 01:34:50]