Date for execution of Saddam henchmen not fixed

BAGHDAD: Iraq has not finalised the execution date of two henchmen of ousted dictator Saddam Hussein who was hanged eight days ago in Baghdad, a Shiite lawmaker said on Sunday.   

Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, half-brother of Saddam and chief of the dreaded Mukhabarat intelligence, and Awad Ahmed al-Bandar, the head of the former revolutionary court, are to be executed after an Iraqi court found them to have been involved in the killing of 148 Shiites in the 1980s.   

"The date for their execution is not yet fixed," said Sami al-Askari, Shiite MP who was present at the hanging of Saddam on December 30 at a former torture centre in Baghdad.   

"Anyway we have time till January 25," Askari said, referring to the 30 day period allowed by Iraqi law for executions to be carried out once they have been confirmed by the Iraqi appeal chamber.   

The hangings for Saddam and his two henchmen were confirmed on December 26. The execution of the two was originally fixed for Thursday but was postponed following rising international pressure after the bungling of Saddam's hanging.   

In a statement UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Saturday "strongly urged the government of Iraq to grant a stay of execution to those whose death sentences may be carried out in the near future."   

The December 30 hanging of Saddam sparked an outcry after the leak of an unofficial, grisly cellphone video of his execution that showed a guard taunting the former dictator moments before his death.   

Iraqi premier Nur al-Maliki said Saturday that the government will carry out punishments against former regime officials. "We will go ahead in applying the law against those who abused the Iraqi people and whose hands are stained with the blood of innocents," he said.