Saddam's co-defendant decapitated while being hanged

January 15, 2007

Saddam Hussein's half brother and former chief of the Iraqi secret police, Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, along with the former chief judge of the revolutionary court, Awad Hamad al-Bandar were hanged today in Baghdad at approximately 3:00 a.m. local time for their role in the 1982 killing of 148 Shiite Muslims in the village of Dujail.

Although efforts were taken to prevent a repeat of the controversy surrounding the perceived impropriety that followed the cellphone video of last week's execution of Saddam Hussein, including confiscation of reporters' cellphones and requiring all individuals present to sign a statement that they would not engage in Shiite chants and taunting, outrage is already being heard from many quarters over an apparent miscalculation by the executioner resulting in al-Tikriti's decapitation by the noose.

Shaken by the mishap, officials waited seven hours before announcing the execution and waited another six before showing to reporters a three minute official video of the hangings, who were told that it would not be shown again.