Saddam's Half-Brother Beheaded by the Hanging Noose

By Jeralyn, Section War In Iraq
Posted on Mon Jan 15, 2007 at 02:04:09 PM EST
Tags: iraq hangings (all tags)

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[Illustration, not a photo of this hanging]

Absolutely gruesome:

...as the trapdoors swung open, they dropped and the rope severed the hooded head of Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, Saddam's younger half-brother and former intelligence chief.

Government officials said they had decided not to distribute any part of the film to the public.

Iraq says the beheading was caused by a hangman's error "in setting the noose or the length of the rope."

They showed the video to journalists because there was no possibility of a cover-up...the bodies were being turned over to families for burial.

Here's a video of a BBC journalist describing the hanging video.

Iraq's comments afterwords:

"The convicts were not subjected to any mistreatment," [overnment spokesman Ali ]Dabbagh said describing the beheading by the rope as a rare mishap. "Their rights were not violated. There was no chanting."

No violation of rights or procedures? This is the democracy we are installing in Iraq?

Not only that, the beheaded executionee was suffering from cancer.

Saleem al-Jibouri, a senior Sunni Arab member of parliament, told Reuters Barzan's body may have been weakened by the cancer he was suffering: "But we have doubts and we want to ask experts and doctors if it's possible the head can come off," he said.

Life in prison plus cancer wasn't enough of a punishment?

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Saddam's Half-Brother Beheaded by the Hanging Noose | 19 comments (19 topical)

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1000 times (1.00 / 1) (#1)
by Abdul Abulbul Amir on Mon Jan 15, 2007 at 02:34:18 PM EST

Too bad about losing his head. He got at least 1000 times the due process he have his victims. Good riddance.

: This is just plain disgusting (none / 0) (#3)
by Al on Mon Jan 15, 2007 at 05:13:08 PM EST

You are sick. Get help.

Problems with the Noose (none / 0) (#2)
by YellaDawg TN on Mon Jan 15, 2007 at 04:14:43 PM EST

Back in the days when hanging was the usual punishment, beheadings did occur as result of miscalculations by inexperienced executioners. The most infamous Old West example is Black Jack Ketchum, hanged ca. 1879, when an error in judgement caused him to be decaptiated as he fell through the trap door.

I'm no proponent of capital punishment and certainly not a fan of Saddam and his henchmen, but I actually think his half-brother got an easy out. Quick and easy, no matter how gruesome the result. If his cancer was terminal, he faced a more prolonged and painful death in prison.

Assumption (5.00 / 1) (#4)
by Al on Mon Jan 15, 2007 at 05:22:03 PM EST

You are assuming that the victim of the beheading is rendered unconscious instantaneously. This is not necessarily the case, and indeed there is some evidence that it isn't. If this is what happened in this case, tell me if you think it's right that Americans are risking their lives in Iraq to support this sort of thing, because that's exactly what they are doing.


: Narius (none / 0) (#9)
by Edger on Mon Jan 15, 2007 at 08:23:43 PM EST

You've been around here long enough to know the answer to your own question. What's your understanding?
I knows it's hard, what with the gruesomeness of the hanging, but ta