Arrests Made Because Of The Filming Of Execution

GuitarGuru · Jan 3, 2007 at 3:12 PM

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- At least two more arrests are expected in connection with cell phone video of the moments before Saddam Hussein was hanged, Iraq's national security adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie told CNN Wednesday.

A security guard present at the execution has already been detained, Iraqi officials said.

The guard was being questioned Wednesday in connection with a cell phone video that showed Shiites taunting the former dictator moments before he was executed, according to an adviser to the Iraqi prime minister.

"He is being questioned to see what his motives were," adviser Sadiq al-Rikabi told CNN.

The suspect is "the same person that leaked the footage to Internet sites and television stations," al-Rikabi said. (Watch why guard was detained Video)

The video has angered moderate Sunnis and other Iraqis, who are criticizing the way Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government handled the execution.

The images fed Sunni fears that Hussein's death was a sectarian lynching by the Shiite-led government, rather than a legitimate execution.

Further raising suspicions that the video was meant to inflame sectarian tensions, Interior Ministry spokesman Brig. Gen. Abdul Karim Khalaf said, is that the detained guard is an employee of the prison's directorate under the Justice Ministry -- which is led by a Sunni.

Justice Minister Hashim al-Shibli is a member of the Iraq National Accord, led by former prime minister Ayad Allawi, who has been very critical of al-Maliki's government and what he has described on several occasions as its "sectarian bent."

Allawi has threatened to pull out his ministers from the government in the past.

CNN is attempting to contact al-Shibli, who left Iraq for Amman, Jordan, on Thursday before the execution and is expected to return on Sunday.

Al-Rubaie, who was an official observer at the hanging, told CNN on Wednesday that the execution was "not a sectarian lynching" but that some of the behavior in the execution chamber was "unacceptable." (Watch as al-Rubaie describes what went on inside execution chamber Video)

"I believe there was an infiltration to the crowd inside the chamber," al-Rubaie said. "These people have done a lot of harm, and I honestly believe that this may well have been planned by one of these Arab television channels infiltrating, and probably this video has been sold to this Arab television station."

Al-Rubaie said there were people in the execution chamber whom he could not account for and who did not seem to be part of the execution team.

"I believe the Iraqi government has done the proper thing," he said. "But things went -- not in the way we wanted to happen. There was some behavior which was unacceptable from some people, but some of them -- some of this reaction -- were a natural reaction that should not have happened."

Iraqi officials will be "very careful" in conducting the upcoming executions of two other members of Hussein's regime, al-Rikabi said.

"We will be very careful that these mistakes will not happen again," he said.

No date has been set for the execution of Barzan Hassan, Hussein's half-brother, and Awwad Bandar, the former chief judge of the Revolutionary Court. They were also found guilty for their roles in the 1982 Dujail massacre.

The executions will take place some time after the close of the Eid al-Adha holiday, which ends Sunday, al-Rikabi said. (Watch how video of Hussein's humiliation is outraging Sunnis Video)
'The man is being executed'

Early Saturday morning, Hussein was transported from his cell at Camp Cropper to the execution site, a building where Hussein's intelligence officers had also carried out hangings.

There, he was handed over to Iraqi security.

Official government video of the execution was released without sound and ends when the noose is put around Hussein's neck.

But the crude cell-phone video leaked less than 24 hours later goes much further -- showing bitter exchanges between Hussein and his Shiite guards.

After Hussein offers prayers, the guards shout praise for Muqtada al-Sadr, the radical Shiite cleric whose father is believed to have been murdered by Hussein's regime.

They chant, "Muqtada! Muqtada! Muqtada!"

Hussein smiles.

"Is this how you show your bravery as men?" he asks.

"Straight to hell," someone shouts back at him.

"Is this the bravery of Arabs?" Hussein asks.

A sole voice is heard trying to silence the taunts.

"Please, I am begging you not to," the unknown man says. "The man is being executed."

Faroon, the chief prosecutor, said that was his voice. "I personally shouted at them and said there is no need, and kept on shouting and my voice is clear in the recording, I think," he said.

Another shout, "Long live Mohammed Baqir Sadr" was referring to a relative of Muqtada al-Sadr and a founder of the Shiite Dawa movement, who was executed by the Hussein regime. Dawa is al-Maliki's party.

The taunts continued, and the trapdoor dropped shortly after 6 a.m. Saturday. Hussein was hanged. (Watch Hussein's last moments Video)

Immediately after, Shiite witnesses danced around his body, chanting celebratory slogans.

The images raised concerns that even moderate Sunnis would be driven further away from the Shiite-led government they already mistrust, reducing the chances for a united Iraq where the sects share power.
U.S.: We would have done it differently

The execution would have been done differently had the United States been in charge, a U.S. military spokesman said Wednesday.

"But that was not our decision," U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said during a Baghdad news conference.

"That was the government of Iraq's decision. This is a sovereign nation and they're going to learn from each thing they do." U.S. officials reportedly tried to delay the execution, fearing it would fuel perceptions the death of the former Iraqi dictator was more about Shiite retribution than about justice.

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Original: http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/01/03/...tion/index.html

what do yall think?

flee · Jan 3, 2007 at 3:36 PM

:lol: nice find

RebelYell101 · Jan 3, 2007 at 5:38 PM

Kind of funny, and deserved. While I am glad he did it, still shouldn't have.

.Shady · Jan 3, 2007 at 5:45 PM

very interesting

Dencity · Jan 3, 2007 at 5:51 PM

Im sick of reading al-derka names. But anyway, it's over so why can't everyone just get on with their lives especially since it benefitted them not having him as their leader. People die everyday, but I for one am happy that someone who did horrible things died. Unless of course, it was the bush conspiracy who did it all

xX King · Jan 3, 2007 at 6:53 PM

Immediately after, Shiite witnesses danced around his body, chanting celebratory slogans.
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What a bunch of douches.

I agree with the unknown guy.

Lennox · Jan 3, 2007 at 7:06 PM

So you're saying if you were a Jew and Hitler was hanged, you wouldnt be celebrating?

They're happy that a ------- died, whats the problem?

RebelYell101 · Jan 3, 2007 at 9:10 PM

Originally posted by Lennox@Jan 3 2007, 07:06 PM
So you're saying if you were a Jew and Hitler was hanged, you wouldnt be celebrating?

They're happy that a ------- died, whats the problem?

[snapback]3399784[/snapback]
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Weee! Someone understands! Lol. I'm glad he's dead. Not that I'm a shiite or whatever, but just because I like bullies to be bullied. I guess maybe that guy shouldn't have put the video online, but I'm still glad he did. Lol.

Machiavelli X · Jan 3, 2007 at 9:23 PM

Originally posted by Lennox@Jan 4 2007, 12:06 AM
So you're saying if you were a Jew and Hitler was hanged, you wouldnt be celebrating?

They're happy that a ------- died, whats the problem?

[snapback]3399784[/snapback]
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agreed

Lefthanded · Jan 3, 2007 at 10:21 PM

Originally posted by Machiavelli X+Jan 3 2007, 10:23 PM-->

<!--QuoteBegin-Lennox
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@Jan 4 2007, 12:06 AM
So you're saying if you were a Jew and Hitler was hanged, you wouldnt be celebrating?

They're happy that a ------- died, whats the problem?

[snapback]3399784[/snapback]
Click to expand...

agreed

[snapback]3400158[/snapback]
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I 2nd that

nyahnyah5 · Jan 4, 2007 at 12:51 AM

They should be happy, I was just watching this thing on what Saddam Hussein has done over the years, he deserves to die for so many innocent people he has killed and evil things he has done. (little kids and babies too )

.Sinister · Jan 4, 2007 at 6:21 PM

Originally posted by Kronic@Jan 4 2007, 08:45 AM
very interesting

[snapback]3399554[/snapback]
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Yeap

Undertow · Jan 4, 2007 at 8:00 PM

like they didnt know a video was gonna be "leaked" anyway

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