Iraq detains two guards for Saddam video leak

BAGHDAD: Iraqi authorities have detained two justice ministry guards on suspicion of secretly filming the execution of Saddam Hussein and then distributing it on the Internet.

"Two guards who are employees of the justice ministry have been held for questioning, but there are no charges against them yet," said Sami al-Askari, a Shiite MP who was present at the execution of the former president.

The grisly video captures a member of the execution party mocking Saddam by shouting the name of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, a bitter opponent of the ousted dictator, minutes before he was put to death.

The two-and-half minute film shot on a mobile telephone camera has spread like wildfire on the Internet and triggered angry outbursts within the Sunni Arab community of Iraq and from international leaders.

The audio of the video clearly captures a voice shouting "Moqtada! Moqtada! Moqtada!" at a sneering Saddam, inspiring some observers to compare the execution to a sectarian lynching.

In an interview with CNN broadcast today, Iraq's National Security Advisor Mowaffaq al-Rubaie said the unofficial video was probably taken by one of the guards.

He however defended the release of the official footage of the minutes before the execution, which was broadcast without sound.

"We wanted to show the outside world the execution had happened because this part of the world is full of conspiracy theories," he explained.