Film of Saddam aides' hanging shown

Journalists saw video footage of the execution of two of Saddam Hussein's top aides today that showed the former dictator's half-brother having his head severed as he fell from the gallows.

Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, a feared intelligence chief, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, a former head of Iraq's revolutionary court, were hanged before dawn today in Baghdad, two weeks after Saddam's chaotic execution.

The Iraqi government-filmed video of the hanging sees the two men wearing red prison jumpsuits and black hoods are put on their heads as they reach the platform. Masked men then place their necks in the nooses.

A short while later, the footage, which is silent, shows both men drop. Almost immediately, the rope that was around Barzan's neck flicks upwards, with the body dropping below.

The former leader's half-brother is then shown lying below the gallows, his severed head still covered with the hood several yards away.

Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, said all three hangings had been carried out "according to Iraqi process and Iraqi law" but made Washington's strongest yet denunciation of the manner in which Saddam was executed and of the appearance of mobile phone video footage of his death.

"There is no doubt that this should have been handled with dignity," she said at a press conference in Egypt. "I hope that those who are responsible for the way that came out will be indeed punished."

The video of Saddam being executed, which showed the former dictator being taunted on the gallows, caused international outrage. A second leaked video showed a gaping neck wound on his corpse.

Iraqi government officials today said the executions of the two aides was orderly. Ali al-Dabbagh, a government spokesman, said neither man was taunted.

"Those present signed documents pledging not to violate the rules or otherwise face legal penalties. All the people present abided by the government's rule and there were no violations.

"No one shouted slogans or said anything that would taint the execution. None of those charged were insulted."

But Khalaf al-Olayan, a leader of the main Sunni bloc in parliament, said it was "impossible for a person to be decapitated during a hanging". He told al-Jazeera television: "This shows that they have mutilated the body, and this is a violation of the law."

Barzan and Bandar were found guilty alongside Saddam last year of involvement in the killing of 148 Shia men and boys after a 1982 assassination attempt against the former dictator in the town of Dujail, north of Baghdad.

The pair were due to be buried tonight near Saddam in Ouja, the town just outside Tikrit where the former dictator was born, local officials said. The bodies were flown from Baghdad to a US military base in Tikrit after the execution.

The latest hangings could further exacerbate sectarian violence in Iraq, which the US president, George Bush, hopes to quell by sending an additional 21,500 troops to Iraq soon.

Today, at least 16 other people were killed or found dead in Iraq, including four Iraqi soldiers who died when a suicide car bombing struck a military checkpoint in west Baghdad. At least 78 people were reported killed or found dead in Iraq yesterday.

Tony Blair's official spokesman today said Britain remained opposed to capital punishment, but it was a sovereign choice for Iraq. "Our position on the death penalty is well known. We've made our position known to the Iraqi government," he said.

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