Images Of Saddam’s Body Aired On Iraqi TV

On Saturday Iraqi state television was showing footage of masked guards placing the noose around Saddam’s neck. The despot remained defiant to the end, refusing to let his executioners pull a black hood over his head as he clutched the Qur’an awaiting his death.

Saddam was executed in Iraq before dawn Saturday for crimes against humanity.

State television also showed images of the body of a man identified as Saddam on a stretcher covered in a white shroud, the neck twisted at a sharp angle.

There are questions as to what will happen to the former Iraqi president’s remains. Iraq’s national security advisor Mouwafak al-Rubaie said his body may eventually be handed over to his family, but one of Saddam’s lawyers believes the government may want to hide the burial site to prevent citizens from paying their respects.

Dubai-based al-Arabiya satellite TV claims one of Saddam’s daughters has asked the government of Yemen to allow temporary burial in that country, until the body can be taken to Saddam’s hometown of Tikrit, north of Baghdad.

And there are reports that Saddam will be buried in Tikrit on Sunday, but that hasn’t been confirmed.

Saddam’s execution prompted celebrations in Baghdad’s predominantly Shiite Sadr City, where people danced in the streets and fired guns in the air (pictured).

Violence also erupted shortly after Saddam’s death. A bomb planted in a minibus exploded in a fish market south of Baghdad killing 31 people. About 60 others were injured in another explosion in Kufa, about 160 kilometres south of the Iraqi capital.

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