Washington, Jan 15: The White House said the
Iraqi government was bringing "justice" to those guilty of
crimes after two former close allies of former Iraqi President
Saddam Hussein were executed early today.
Saddam Hussein's half-brother and former intelligence
chief, Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, and the former head of
Iraq's Revolutionary Court, Awad Ahmed al-Bandar, were
executed early this morning according to a top Iraqi
government official.
When asked by a news agency to comment on the executions, White
House spokesman Scott Stanzel said that "Iraq is a sovereign
government exercising its judicial system to bring justice to
those convicted for brutal crimes against humanity."
Stanzel said he did not know whether President George
W. Bush had been informed of the new hangings in advance as he
was in the case of Saddam.
Like Saddam, Barzan and Bandar were sentenced to death
for their roles in the massacre of 148 Iraqi Shiites from the
village of Dujail, north of Baghdad, after a failed attempt on
the former dictator's life in 1982.
The former Iraqi President was hanged in Baghdad on
December 30.
Bureau Report
First Published: Monday, January 15, 2007, 00:00