The judge who sentenced Saddam Hussein to death has condemned the way the dictator was put to death.
“It was uncivilized and backward,” Chief Judge Raouf Abdul Rahman told reporters on Tuesday as they awaited the start of the latest trial of Saddam’s colleagues and cohorts.
Hussein, a Sunni Muslim, was hanged for his role in those killings which took place in a mostly Shiite town just north of Baghdad. The killings were a backlash after attempted assassination attempt. During the time in which hostilities between Sunnis and Shiites were erupting, the hanging occured on December 30, 2006, when Sunnis began celebrating the religious holiday of Eid al-Adha.
A video showed Saddam being taunted by Shiites just prior to his execution, including bitter exchanges between the condemned and the Shiite witnesses. After Hussein was hanged, Shiite witnesses danced around his body, chanting celebratory slogans.
