Almotamar.net Agencies - Two former aides of Saddam Hussein were hanged today for crimes against humanity despite international pressure to halt the executions after the bungled hanging of the former president last month.



Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti and Awad Ahmed al-Bandar were executed in the early hours of Monday, Ali al-Dabbagh, a government spokesman confirmed.
Barzan, Saddam’s half-brother and former intelligence chief, and Bandar, the former head of the revolutionary court, had been found guilty of crimes against humanity for the killing of 148 Shiites from the village of Dujail in 1980s.
They were sentenced to death on November 5 by a special court along with Saddam, whose execution on December 30 has drawn worldwide criticism.
Mr al-Dabbagh said that Barzan was hanged at 3am and that his head was severed from his body during the execution.
Mr Dabbagh said the bodies of the two men would be handed over to their families for burial within a few days. Saddam was buried in his hometown of Awja.
The White House in its reaction said the Iraqi government was bringing "justice" to those guilty of crimes against the Iraqi people. "Iraq is a sovereign government exercising its judicial system to bring justice to those convicted for brutal crimes against humanity," Scott Stanzel, a White House spokesman, said.
Mr 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.
The execution of Barzan and Bandar had been postponed several times as international pressure rose on the Iraqi government following Hussein’s hanging.
The United Nations and other international bodies and leaders had severely criticised the Iraqi government for the last minute taunting of the former Sunni dictator by an alleged Shiite guard.
Mr Maliki however said after Hussein’s hanging that the government was determined to carry out the execution of his two aides, calling their execution an "internal matter" of Iraq.
Mr Maliki had also threatened to break relations with countries who criticised his government for carrying out the executions. A video of Hussein's hanging, that was made with a portable telephone, angered members of Iraq’s Sunni minority and triggered criticism from observers who felt he was humiliated minutes before being put to death.
The grisly images also recorded one member of the execution party shouting the name of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, a bitter opponent of Saddam. The two-and-half minute film spread like wildfire on the Internet and triggered angry outbursts within Iraq’s Sunni Arab community and from international leaders.
One of those present at the execution could be heard shouting "Moqtada! Moqtada! Moqtada!" at a sneering Saddam, inspiring some observers to compare the execution to a sectarian lynching. Authorities have detained the guard.