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No.10: hangings 'undignified'

By Jonathan Rugman

Updated on 15 January 2007

Downing Street condemns the bungled hangings of two of Saddam's associates.


Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti (Reuters)

Convicted for the same crime, they were meant to hang on the same day as their president.

But like the execution of Saddam Hussain, the hangings of his half-brother, Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, and his former chief justice, Awan al-Bandar, went badly wrong.

The two, convicted of crimes against humanity for their part in the 1982 massacre of 148 people in Dujail, were executed before dawn this morning.

A government spokesman gave his assurance that the men were not taunted at the gallows.

But they were made to wear Guantanamo-style orange boiler suits. And the execution of one of the men, Saddam's half-brother, was bungled in the most grisly manner.

A Downing Street spokesman said the executions were not conducted with dignity.

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