Posted on 01/15/2007 10:26:10 AM PST by NormsRevenge
LONDON (AFP) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair's official spokesman said that the way in which Saddam Hussein's half-brother was executed was "wrong", after it emerged his head was severed during hanging.
Human rights groups criticised the punishment after the Iraqi government said "no violations" had occurred but confirmed that Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti's head was ripped from his body as he swung on the gallows.
Speaking to reporters Monday afternoon, Blair's spokesman restated Britain's opposition to the death penalty and again said it recognised Iraq's right as a sovereign government to make its own decision on capital punishment.
"However, we emphasised (to the Iraqi government) if the executions were to be carried out, they should be done so in a dignified way," he said.
"Now if, as it appears to have been the case, that it didn't happen, then that clearly was wrong.
"But the manner of death should neither obscure the crimes that these people committed against the Iraqi people, nor excuse the manner (of the execution) if indeed it did go wrong."
Al-Tikriti, Saddam's former intelligence chief and half-brother, and Awad Ahmed Bandar, the former head of the revolutionary court, were executed at dawn, the Iraqi government in Baghdad said Monday.
Both were sentenced to hang on November 5 by a special court along with ousted president Saddam Hussein for their part in the killing of 148 Shiite Muslims in the 1980s.
Saddam's execution on December 30, before which he was taunted by Shiite guards and observers, drew criticism worldwide for the way it was handled by the Iraqi authorities.
Blair was attacked for initially remaining silent over the hanging. But he also eventually branded the manner of the former dictator's execution as "completely wrong".
Britain lobbied "at the highest level" to spare Saddam's life the day before he faced the gallows, Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said in a letter made public last week.
London's reaction to the latest hangings Monday morning was initially more muted, with the Foreign Office and Blair's office refusing to criticise Iraq for carrying out the executions until the decapitation was confirmed later.
This just shows the Iraqis don't have much experience hanging people. Hanging is an exact science. It was recognized early on that the length of the drop is critical. To shor a drop and the condemned's neck doesn't break so he slowly strangles to death. To much drop and the force of the fall will rip the guy's head off. I think there is a formula to use based on the weight and hight of the person to be hanged. It is also important that the knotts on the rope be lined up behind the vicims left ear to ensure a clean break of the neck.
Practice makes perfect. Eventually they'll get the hang of it. Maybe soon they can try Mookie.
gives the criminals something to keep their minds off the hanging for a while...
Do it like Iran , Tie them to a crane and slowly raise them off the ground.
I see you have done your research. I think the weight calculations were done properly, but what may not have been factored in was that his bone density was probably significantly lower because of osteoporosis. A supporting shoulder harness could be used for hanging older people so as not to overstress the neck vertebrae.
And piano wire.
Is somebody in GB going to complain about the execution of the two Iranian teenagers for allegedly committing a homosexual act? They were hanged in a fashion that maximized their suffering and did not die for a long time. This is horrific - and the world is silent. And when I see gay groups defending and speaking up for Hezb-Allah and the other Islamofascists I don't know whether to laugh or to cry.
Impressive and free of gore.
Exactly. Mum, not a word, not a peep. No media headlines, no press coverage. Just a small mention.
Gravity - it's the law!
Sir Isaac Newton
The Office Table of Drops, published by the British government should have been consulted to mitigate this kind of messiness.
http://www.richard.clark32.btinternet.co.uk/hanging2.html#table
I mentioned this awful deed (the execution of the two Iranian teens) to a friend who is gay and the color drained from his face. The description of it haunts me in my sleep. These are brutal, nasty and dangerous people and they want to bring their crazy Sharria to the USA - if they don't destroy us first.
Cannot. Momentum was conserved. Momentum is always conserved, even for inelastic collisions as was clearly the case, since his head did not bounce on and off the floor in perpetuity. Now Kinetic Energy, was not conserved as the bouncing head eventually came to a stop somewhere.
piano wires requires that they are gently lowered into the pressure....too much work....
Here is the real story:
http://www.ad.nl/fun/bizar/article991747.ece
Beat me to it. The Brits are correct, and they ought to know, they wrote the book on it.
If you want to know what brutality is , go to www.ogrish.com Also check out the video on Saddam's torture methods called "Buried in the Sand", it's available on Amazon. When I was first saw the beheading video of Nicolas Berg two years ago, I couldn't the image out of my head for a week.
Blair and the rest are hypocrites. After WWII, the Allies sentenced and hung the top Nazis and Japanese. The Nazis were hung a little more than 16 months after VE Day.
By the way... on the AFP (haha surprise) picture you posted, the names and photos of the two criminals are wrong. Barzan (now headless) is the guy on the left. AFP quality...
Very nice video. I have never seen it.
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