Saddams' Co-Defendants Await Their Execution

Two of Saddam Hussein's co-defendants were taken from their cells and told they were going to be hanged on the same day the former dictator was executed, their lawyer said Sunday.

But the two condemned men still await death as Iraqi officials decide how to avoid the kind of outcry that followed Saddam's hanging on Dec. 30, over the mobile phone footage being released all over the internet.

Also on Sunday, the US military announced the deaths of five more American troops and at least 14 Iraqis died in bombings and shootings.

Saddam's half brother and former intelligence chief Barzan Ibrahim and the former head of Iraq's Revolutionary Court, Awad Hamed al-Bandar, were sentenced to hang. They were convicted along with Saddam of involvement in the killings of nearly 150 Shiites in the town of Dujail after a 1982 assassination attempt there against Saddam.

Their executions were postponed, however, until after the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha which ended five days ago.

Authorities also decided to give Saddam his own "special day," National Security adviser Mouwaffak al-Rubaie said at the time of his execution.

Now Iraqi officials must decide how to carry out a second round of executions in the face of worldwide criticism over their handling of Saddam's death. In the final moments of his life, Saddam was taunted by some of those present in the execution chamber as he stood with a noose around his neck.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair criticized the way in which Saddam was executed, his office said Sunday.

"He believes that the manner of the execution was completely wrong, but that should not lead us to forget the crimes that Saddam Hussein committed, including the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis," a spokeswoman for Blair's office said on condition of anonymity in line with policy.