IRAQ:Thousands of Sunni Arabs vented their anger yesterday over Saddam Hussein's execution as the Iraqi government promised an investigation into illicitly filmed footage of Shia officials taunting him on the gallows.
A court official said he nearly halted the hanging over the jeering, which has inflamed sectarian passions in a nation already on the brink of civil war. Data showed civilian deaths hit a new record in December and were more than 12,000 in 2006.
He also challenged government claims that those who filmed the event were guards, saying they were senior officials. In the video, seen widely on the internet, observers chant the name of Shia cleric and militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr as Saddam stands on the scaffold, a convicted mass killer appearing dignified in contrast to the uproar below him.
But the government adviser who announced the investigations on Monday into the taunts and filming accused the opposition of using them to deflect attention from Saddam's crimes: "This is an artificial uproar," Sami al-Askari said. "They cannot say this court has been unjust and so they take this mistake and forget Saddam deserved to be executed," he said.
"Saddam was treated well in court and on the scaffold. No one beat him or insulted him, yet Saddam tortured many Iraqis, executed thousands and buried them in mass graves."
By rushing through the execution just four days after the former president's appeal failed, over the reservations of the US ambassador who urged a two-week delay, prime minister Nuri al-Maliki made good on a promise to fellow Shias that Saddam would not live to see 2007.
But a moderate lawmaker from Saddam's Sunni community said the uncensored images of the hasty hanging were a blow to Mr Maliki's calls for national reconciliation.
Prosecutor Munkith al-Faroon, who can be heard appealing for order on the video, said he threatened to leave the room if the jeering did not stop. That would have halted the execution as a prosecution observer must be present by law. "I threatened to leave," said Mr Faroon. "They knew that if I left, the execution could not go ahead."
As US president George Bush prepares a new strategy for a war in which the 3,000th soldier died at the weekend, interior ministry data showed at least 1,930 civilians died in political violence in December, almost certainly an underestimate. Another 45 bodies were found around Baghdad yesterday, police said.
Saddam's grave in his native village, Awja, drew thousands more mourners yesterday, as it has each day since he was buried there early on Sunday.
Thousands of people marched in nearby Tikrit and in the northern city of Mosul, carrying portraits of Saddam and banners proclaiming him a martyr.
The rapid execution has boosted Mr Maliki's fragile authority among his fractious Shia allies, but has angered many Sunnis.
"The timing of the execution and the footage shown hurt the feelings of those who have the desire to join the political process," said Saleem al-Jibouri, a moderate voice from the Accordance Front, the largest Sunni Arab parliamentary bloc.
As the Iraqi government mounted an investigation into how officials smuggled in mobile phone cameras, Mr Faroon challenged the accounts of the justice minister and an adviser to the prime minister who said the illicit film was shot by a guard.
"Two officials were holding mobile phone cameras. One of them I know. He's a high-ranking government official," said Mr Faroon, declining to name the man. "The other I also know by sight, though not his name. He is also senior."
Describing how US troops searched the official delegation to attend the hanging, he said: "I don't know how they got their mobiles in because the Americans took all our phones, even mine which has no camera."
Khudayer al-Khuzai, the acting justice minister, said guards violated orders not to bring mobile phones or cameras. He vowed an investigation with the "highest standards of discipline". - (Reuters)