cilok from malaysia today
30/12: Saddam 'frightened' in final moments
Category: General
Posted by: Raja Petra
Saddam Hussein refused to wear a hood when he was taken to the gallows but looked "broken" and "frightened", it has been revealed. National Security adviser Mouwafak al Rubaie said that Saddam had "totally surrendered" and did not resist. He said a judge read the sentence to Saddam, and he was then taken in handcuffs to the execution room.
When he stood in the execution room, photographs and video footage were taken.
Mr al Rubaie said: "When we went to the gallow room he turned around to me. I was standing next to him and he said 'don't be afraid' as if I was going to be executed. I think it was self-reassurance for himself.
"The man was very, very broken, he looked really, really weak."
Mr al Rubaie added that Saddam had shown no remorse over his actions.
He said: "I expected at the moment of reality the man will be repentant, will confess to his crimes, will show some remorse, but he hasn't."
Mr al Rubaie had earlier told state-run Iraqiya television: "He did not ask for anything. He was carrying a Koran and said: 'I want this Koran to be given to this person,' a man he called Bander," adding he did not know who Bander was.
"Saddam was treated with respect when he was alive and after his death," he added. "Saddam's execution was 100 percent Iraqi and the American side did not interfere."
Sami al-Askari, political adviser to Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki, said Saddam struggled when he was taken from his cell in an American military prison, but was composed in his last moments.
He said Saddam was clad completely in black, with a jacket, trousers, hat and shoes, rather than prison garb.
Shortly before the execution, Saddam's hat was removed and Saddam was asked if he wanted to say something, but Mr al Askari said he had not wanted to, though he did recite a Muslim prayer.
He added: "Saddam later was taken to the gallows and refused to have his head covered with a bag.
"Before the rope was put around his neck, Saddam shouted: 'God is great. The nation will be victorious and Palestine is Arab'."
It has not been revealed where the execution took place, but it is believed it was not held in the fortified Green Zone.
One official said it took place at a facility known to Americans as 'Camp Justice', a former base for Saddam's feared security services and now used regularly for executions by Iraqi's courts.
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