Iraq Deputy Hanged

Mar 20, 12:49 PM

Current Headlines: SADDAM Hussein's former deputy was hanged before dawn today for his part in the killings of 148 Shiites, despite appeals from international human rights groups.

Taha Yassin Ramadan, 69, who was Saddam's vice president when the regime was ousted nearly four years ago, is the fourth man to be executed for the killings that followed a 1982 assassination attempt against the former leader in the town of Dujail, north of Baghdad.

The execution took place at 3.05am local time at a prison at an Iraqi army and police base which had been the headquarters of Saddam's military intelligence, in a predominantly Shiite district in Baghdad.

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