Reader Advisory: What the Hangings Looked Like

Jan. 15, 2007 — -- Today, the Iraqi government hanged two aides to Saddam Hussein: Awad Hamed al-Bandar, head of Iraq's Revolutionary Court, and Barzan Ibrahim, Saddam's half brother.

BBC Baghdad correspondent Andrew North saw the video and described the hangings.

Andrew North: "This was a short video, silent, and it shows both of Saddam Hussein's former close aides, lined up first of all on the gallows, then hoods being placed around their heads, then the noose.

And then a short while later it shows their bodies dropping and almost immediately on the right-hand side, which is where Barzan [Ibrahim], Saddam Hussein's half brother was standing, almost immediately you see the rope that was around his neck flick upwards and it's clear that his head has detached from his body.

The body then drops below, and then the cameraman who was filming this, then pans down to the pit or chamber below the execution trapdoors and you see a body -- a headless body -- bloodied at the neck and to the right-hand side you see what officials say is Barzan [Ibrahim's] head still covered in a hood.

Now both men were wearing orange boiler suits at the moment of execution. But this, the Iraqi government is saying is the official video but they are not planning to release it publicly, but they say they wanted to show it to journalists to show what happened."