Hundreds of angry supporters of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, many of them armed, protested yesterday against his execution and blamed leading Iraqi politicians for carrying it out.
‘Coward Moqtada, Traitor Hakim,’ chanted men, women and children, slamming Shi’ite radical leader Moqtada al-Sadr and former Iran-based leader Abdel Aziz al-Hakim for Saddam’s execution on Saturday.
The protestors marched through Al-Dawr, the village north of Baghdad where Saddam was captured by US troops in December 2003, not far from his home village of Awja where he is buried, firing guns in the air and carrying large posters of the ousted president.
One such poster of Saddam, dressed in traditional Arab dress, was inscribed with the words ‘Hero and Martyr Saddam Hussein’.
‘We are against the Americans, Prime Minister Maliki, Moqtada Sadr and (leader of the Iranian-backed SCIRI) Sistani because they executed Saddam Hussein,’ said protester Louhai Tayeh.
‘We denounce what Maliki did,’ he added, saying Saddam was not dead but would ‘live in our hearts forever’.
Another demonstrator added: ‘We want to deliver a message to Maliki and the Iraqi government in the name of the Mujahideen, the Islamic Party and the Ba’athists.’
In the nearby city of Tikrit, dozens of mourning tents were erected for the late leader even as the town was sealed off for a third straight day by security forces fearing angry reprisals for the execution.
Hundreds of mourners had sidestepped a vehicle ban to walk to his grave and pay their last respects in Awja, where Saddam was privately buried on Sunday.
