Saddam jeered, harassed at execution

Baghdad: Iraq has launched an investigation into who recorded and distributed images of the execution of Saddam Hussein, as well as the taunting of the former leader just prior to his death, according to a government spokesman.

The announcement of the investigation follows reports of US officials who tried to delay Hussein's execution, fearing it would deepen a civil divide in Iraq.

There are conflicting reports on who smuggled a cell phone into the execution chamber. Sami al-Askari, an aide to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, attended the execution and told CNN it was one of the four masked guards who recorded the hanging.

However, chief prosecutor Munqith Faroon—who also was among the 14 people inside the chamber—told Danish television that he knew of two senior officials in the chamber who had cell phones, despite security measures in place to prevent such devices from being brought into the room.

"How they took them in, I don't know," Faroon said.

"We were searched one by one before going into the room. They had a box to place phones in," he added.

Early Saturday morning, Hussein was transported from his holding cell at Camp Cropper to the execution site, a building where Hussein's intelligence officers had hanged so many others.

There, he was handed over to Iraqi security.

Gruesome video

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

But a 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.

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"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."

Another shout, “Long live Mohammed Baqir Sadr”—referring to Muqtada al-Sadr's father-in-law 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.

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

On Sunday, the U.S. military transported Hussein's body for burial at his home village of Awja near Tikrit, where Sunnis took to the streets loudly calling the former Iraqi president a hero and a martyr.