Region | Iraq
Shiites celebrate hanging of Saddam cohorts
Iraqi Shiites in the holy city of Najaf beat drums and sang on Monday after hearing that two of Saddam Hussain's feared henchmen had been hanged for crimes against humanity.
- Agencies
- Published: 00:00 January 16, 2007
- Image Credit: AP
- Shiites celebrate the executions of two of Saddam's co-defendants in the city of Najaf.
Najaf/Baghdad: Iraqi Shiites in the holy city of Najaf beat drums and sang on Monday after hearing that two of Saddam Hussain's feared henchmen had been hanged for crimes against humanity.
Hundreds in this majority Shiite city took to streets with drums to celebrate the occasion.
They walked from the headquarters of the Shiite Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution (SCIRI), some holding Iraqi flags, Islamic banners and pictures of top Shiite clerics.
Many chanted slogans urging death to Baathists, the political party lead by Saddam Hussain for roughly 35 years before he was deposed by a US-led invasion in April 2003.
"The execution of the criminals is putting justice into practice" said Najaf resident, Hashim Al Sailawi, 42.
"The execution was revenge for the martyrs who were killed by the clique of the former regime."
In Baghdad's Sadr City slum, a bastion of the cleric and militia leader Moqtada Al Sadr, Shiites again celebrated in the streets.
Al Sadr's name was heard being chanted at Saddam on the gallows.
After Barzan's hanging, Mousa Jabr in Sadr City said: "This is the least he should get. He should have been handed over to the people. Execution is a blessing for him."
Barzan was a feared figure in Iraq at the head of the intelligence service in the 1980s, at a time when the Shiite majority was harshly oppressed, some like those from Dujail due to suspected links to Shiite Iran, then at war with Iraq.
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