Middle East News
Demonstrations against Saddam's execution in home province
Jan 1, 2007, 14:31 GMT
Tikrit, Iraq- Followers of executed former Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein, were protesting at his execution in his home province of Tikrit Monday, witnesses said.
In Duluiyah, 100 kilometres north of Baghdad, dozens were demonstrating against the execution, according to the witnesses.
The former dictator, who ruled with an iron fist for 24 years before being ousted in 2003 in a US-led invasion, was hanged a day earlier in Baghdad for crimes against humanity in connection with the killings of 148 people in 1982 in the Iraqi Shiite town of Dujail.
The provincial capital of Tikrit, 170 kilometres north of Baghdad, where a curfew was imposed while the execution being carried out, was quiet, according to police.
Several hundred people had protested in Tikrit Sunday, but crowds dispersed soon after security forces fired shots in the air, police said.
Witnesses said Monday that supporters of Saddam had been trying to reach the grave of the former president, who was buried in his home village of Awja, five kilometres from Tikrit.
In other parts of the Tikrit province, supporters of Saddam were said to be meeting to consider what action to take.
Speakers were suggesting that Saddam's execution was an act of revenge by the Shiite-dominated government against the Sunnis, who were favoured during Saddam's regime.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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Sprintracer4: What goes Around...Jan 2nd, 2007 - 02:25:03
...comes around. Imagine this: Sunni's, who have persecuted Kurds and Shiites for 30(?) years, now object to Saddam being executed.
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