IRAQ: Prosecutor says illicit video of Saddam hanging could be considered a crime

A senior Iraqi court official nearly halted the execution of Saddam Hussein by threatening to leave when supporters of a radical Shi'ite cleric and militia leader taunted the former president as he stood on the gallows. Prosecutor Munkith al-Faroon, who is heard appealing for order on explicit Internet video of the hanging that has inflamed sectarian passions, said on Tuesday (January 2) he threatened to leave if the jeering did not stop -- and that would have halted the execution as a prosecution observer must be present by law. Many in Saddam's Sunni minority, and moderate Shi'ites and Kurds, have been angered and embarrassed by the video recording of the hanging which took place on Saturday (December 30). In it, observers chant "Moqtada, Moqtada, Moqtada!" for Shi'ite militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr. Saddam by contrast looks dignified on the gallows and replies: "Is this what you call manhood?" As the Iraqi government mounted an investigation into how officials smuggled in mobile phone cameras, Faroon challenged the accounts of the justice minister and an adviser to the prime minister who said the film was shot by a guard. "I watched the situation very carefully. Not one of the policemen was carrying a mobile. There were only two people who were carrying their mobiles with them inside the execution room. They did not film secretly, they filmed in public," Faroon said. "I saw only one point that should be put into consideration and that is if the film is given for the sake of money! This will be considered a crime. The execution was not a secret, we declared it and we had camera with us to film and that means this film will be shown to people. In fact, I do not understand the uproar that happened," he added. Faroon said executions would normally not be filmed at all, but was done so in this case to quash rumours that the former Iraqi president might not be executed or could be taken to another state. "The Ministry of Interior has the authority to launch an investigation but not the court. When the investigation is done, the case might transferred to the common courts but not our court --- if there was an intention when filming as I mentioned before," he said of the illicit recording. Faroon said he was the only prosecutor from Saddam's trial for crimes against humanity against the people of the Shi'ite town of Dujail who was present in Baghdad.

ITN Source | January 3, 2007

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