Hangings of Saddam allies postponed

IRAQ:The Iraqi government postponed yesterday's hangings of Saddam Hussein's co-defendants. Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, Saddam's half-brother, brother-in-law, and former intelligence chief; and Ahmad al-Bandar, head of the revolutionary court, were sentenced to death alongside the former president for ordering the execution of 148 Shias from the town of Dujail following a failed attempt on Saddam's life in 1982.

An unidentified official from prime minister Nuri al-Maliki's office said the delay was "due to international pressure". But it is also likely that he could not guarantee that the executions, five days after Saddam's hanging, could be carried out with decorum.

Both UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon and commissioner for human rights Louise Arbour have expressed objections to the death penalty in principle, while the US state department and military have questioned the conduct of Saddam's execution.

The Iraqi authorities announced they had arrested a senior official and two guards suspected of recording Saddam's last moments on mobile phones and circulating the images. Some guards were heard taunting him by calling out "Go to Hell" and "Muqtada, Muqtada" as he was saying his final prayer, which was cut short when the trapdoor opened beneath his feet.

Former government spokesman Barham Salih said the fact that the hangmen were dressed in hoods and leather jackets rather than police uniforms showed the execution had been conducted by a militia rather than a sovereign government.

Iraqi media reported that these men belonged to the Mahdi army militia of radical Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, the Iraqi politician most eager to hang Saddam.

Mr Sadr may have given Mr Maliki no choice over who would conduct Saddam's execution. Mr Sadr's political faction, the largest in parliament, is a strong supporter of Mr Maliki and his Dawa party, which is weak due to its lack of paramilitary muscle.

Baha al-Araji, a Sadrist deputy, said the hanging of Saddam's co-defendants would take place on Sunday, but Mr Maliki's spokesman said no date had been set. Another Shia legislator, Sami al-Askari, suggested former vice-president Taha Yassin Ramadan could be executed along with them. Mr Ramadan was sentenced to life imprisonment but the prosecution has argued he should have been given the death penalty.

In an interview published on Wednesday but conducted a week before Saddam's execution, the beleaguered Mr Maliki expressed a desire to leave office before the end of his four-year term.

"I would like to serve my people from outside the circle of senior officials, maybe through the parliament or working directly. I didn't want to take this position. I only agreed because I thought it would serve the national interest and I will not serve again."