Criticisms over hangings mount

UNITED Nations and European Union leaders have condemned the executions in Baghdad of two of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein’s top aides.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon said he regretted the move, while a top EU official said it had damaged Iraqi reconciliation. The US and UK also expressed concern about the conduct of the executions.Barzan Ibrahim and Awad Hamed al-Bandar were hanged for crimes against humanity – Barzan was decapitated by the noose, but officials said it was an accident.A half-brother of Saddam Hussein, Barzan was Iraq’s former intelligence chief and al-Bandar was the former head of the Revolutionary Court.The two men were convicted alongside Saddam Hussein over the killing of 148 Shias in 1982.Their executions came just over two weeks after Saddam Hussein was put to death in Baghdad.The manner of his execution drew international criticism after unofficial mobile phone footage showed him being taunted and insulted in his final moments.The United Nations reacted strongly to the announcement of Monday’s executions.UN spokesman Michele Montas said Ban “regrets that despite pleas from himself and the high commissioner for human rights to spare the lives of the two co-defendants, they were both executed”.UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour also condemned the hangings, saying that they could “make it more difficult to have a complete judicial accounting of other, equally horrendous, crimes committed in Iraq”.EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said that the executions were “detrimental also to the question of national reconciliation” in Iraq, while a number of European leaders restated their opposition to the death penalty.US and UK officials also expressed concern about the way in which the death sentences were carried out.BBCThe US and UK also expressed concern about the conduct of the executions.Barzan Ibrahim and Awad Hamed al-Bandar were hanged for crimes against humanity – Barzan was decapitated by the noose, but officials said it was an accident.A half-brother of Saddam Hussein, Barzan was Iraq’s former intelligence chief and al-Bandar was the former head of the Revolutionary Court.The two men were convicted alongside Saddam Hussein over the killing of 148 Shias in 1982.Their executions came just over two weeks after Saddam Hussein was put to death in Baghdad.The manner of his execution drew international criticism after unofficial mobile phone footage showed him being taunted and insulted in his final moments.The United Nations reacted strongly to the announcement of Monday’s executions.UN spokesman Michele Montas said Ban “regrets that despite pleas from himself and the high commissioner for human rights to spare the lives of the two co-defendants, they were both executed”.UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour also condemned the hangings, saying that they could “make it more difficult to have a complete judicial accounting of other, equally horrendous, crimes committed in Iraq”.EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said that the executions were “detrimental also to the question of national reconciliation” in Iraq, while a number of European leaders restated their opposition to the death penalty.US and UK officials also expressed concern about the way in which the death sentences were carried out.BBC