Mob protests Saddam Hussein's execution

January 2, 2007

Sunnis upset over the hanging of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein began protesting Monday, the Associated Press reported.

A mob in Samara, a town in the Sunni-dominated region of Iraq, tore off pieces of a bombed-out Shiite shrine, called the Golden Dome, which was attacked by extremists 10 months ago. They also carried a mock coffin and photos of Hussein, a Sunni who was executed by the majority-Shiite government on Saturday.

Many were angered by a three-minute video, apparently shot on a cellphone and making its way around the Internet, that showed Hussein taunted by his Shiite executioners moments before he dropped to his death.

In the video, those gathered to witness Hussein's execution could be heard chanting, "Muqtada! Muqtada! Muqtada!" for Muqtada Sadr, whose radical Shiite militia has been known to hunt down Sunni Arabs and kill them.

At least one photo taken by the Associated Press showed a protestor Monday with a hand covered in red, made to look like blood.

The protest followed Hussein's burial the day before in his birthplace of Al Auja, where mourners also expressed outrage for the hanging. "Today they proved themselves that the trial and the execution were mere retaliation and not justice," one mourner told the Los Angeles Times. "It is clear now against whom we should retaliate."