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ITN
Blair to condemn execution
Blair to condemn execution
Tony Blair is to break his silence this week over the execution of Saddam Hussein.Downing Street said the Prime Minister believed the way in which the former Iraqi dictator was executed was "completely wrong".Mr Blair is expected to confirm his support for the Iraqi Government's investigation into how scenes of Saddam being taunted came to be filmed and broadcast.Earlier Gordon Brown condemned the manner of Saddam Hussein's execution as "deplorable" and "completely unacceptable". His comments came in his first interview of the year.Mr Brown said: "Now that we know the full picture of what happened, we can sum this up as a deplorable set of events."It is something, of course, which the Iraqi Government has now expressed its anxiety and shame at. It has done nothing to lessen tensions between the Shia and Sunni communities."He made clear that he was personally opposed to the use of the death penalty and said he hoped lessons would be learnt from the mistakes made in Saddam's execution, as well as from the other difficulties encountered in Iraq.Mr Brown's condemnation echoed the comments of Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, who last week described the filming of Saddam's last moments as "deplorable".Mr Blair has come under growing pressure to make his own views clear on the December 30 execution and said that he would speak about the issue next week.The Iraqi government initially released a film of the moments before Saddam was led to the gallows, which appeared to show him going to his death in a relatively dignified manner.But the authorities were forced to launch an inquiry after mobile phone footage emerged showing the ex-dictator - a member of Iraq's Sunni minority - being taunted with Shia slogans as he was hanged.© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.
ITN | January 7, 2007
