JURIST - Paper Chase: Hanging of Saddam co-defendants expected Thursday

[JURIST] Two of Saddam Hussein's co-defendants also sentenced to death [JURIST report; BBC verdict summary] in the Dujail trial [JURIST news archive] will be executed Thursday, according to an Iraqi government official. Former Iraqi intelligence chief Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti and former chief judge of the Revolutionary Court Awad Hamed al-Bandar were scheduled to be executed at the same time Hussein was hanged [JURIST report] on Saturday, but officials chose to delay their executions until after the Muslim Eid holiday ends Wednesday. Rizgar Mohammed Amin [JURIST news archive], the Iraqi Kurdish judge who presided over the Dujail trial before resigning [JURIST report] in early 2006 over criticisms of his handling of the case, said this week that Hussein's execution violated Iraqi law [JURIST report] banning executions during the Muslim Eid holiday, but Iraqi National Security Adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie defended the timing of the execution, saying it took place before daylight on Saturday, and therefore before Eid began.

Sunnis have protested in the streets of Iraq to demonstrate their opposition to Hussein's execution, while Shiites celebrated in the streets Saturday after Hussein's death. An official who supervised Hussein's execution was arrested Wednesday in connection to the taping of a camera phone video [WARNING: graphic images; JURIST report] showing Hussein's death and the unruly process surrounding the execution. AP has more.

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