Saddam buried in Tikrit


dpa German Press Agency
Published: Sunday December 31, 2006

Baghdad/Cairo- Ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was
buried early Sunday in his home village in the Tikrit area, according
to broadcast reports.
The 69-year-old former dictator, who ruled with an iron fist for
24 years before being ousted in 2003 in a US-led invasion, was hanged
a day earlier in Baghdad. He was laid to rest in the same cemetery
where his sons, Uday and Qusay, were buried after they were killed in
a 2003 shootout with US troops.

The Arabic-language al-Jazeera news channel cited Hussein family
associates. A reporter for the US-based Cable News Network (CNN) who
apparently witnessed the burial said that about 100 people attended
the predawn ceremony.

Saddam was sentenced to death after his conviction for crimes
against humanity in connection with the killings of 148 people in
1982 in the Iraqi Shiite town of Dujail. Capital punishment was
carried out after his appeals were rejected by a higher court.

Saddam had been handed over from US military jailers before dawn
Saturday to coalition-backed Iraqi authorities, who carried out his
death sentence within an hour.

His remains were reportedly delivered late Saturday by US forces
to local Sunni Arab tribal leaders in Tikrit, about 170 kilometres
from Baghdad.

© 2006 - dpa German Press Agency