Baghdad, Iraq 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 Dujayl north of Baghdad.
The government called us before
dawn and told us to send someone. I
sent a judge to witness the execution,
and it happened, al-Faroon said.
Two aides to Prime Minister Nouri
al-Maliki confirmed that the executions
had taken place. They spoke on condition
of anonymity.
Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh
planned a news conference today.
The executions reportedly occurred
in the same Hussein-era military intelligence
headquarters building in north
Baghdad where the former leader was
hanged two days before the end of 2006,
according to an Iraqi general, who
would not allow use of his name because
he was not authorized to release the information.
The building is in the Shiite
neighborhood of Kazimiyah.
The two men were to have been
hanged along with Hussein on Dec. 30,
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.
Hussein s execution became an unruly
scene that brought worldwide criticism
of the Iraqi government. Video of the execution,
recorded on a cellphone camera,
showed the former dictator being
taunted on the gallows.
Issam Ghazawi, a lawyer for Al-Bandar
and Ibrahim, told The Associated
Press recently that they were taken from
their cells and told they were going to be
hanged on the same day Hussein was executed.
The Americans took me and al-Bandar
from our cells on the same day of
Saddam s execution to an office inside
the prison at 1 a.m. They asked us to collect
our belongings because they intend
to execute us at dawn, Ibrahim reportedly
said.
He said the two men also were told to
write their wills.
