I was shocked’: Iraqis remember day Saddam Hussein was hanged

 

This screen grab taken from Iraqi national television station Al-iraqia shows the moments leading up to the execution of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein on December 30, 2006. Al-iraqia/Getty Images

CNN

 — 

On the morning of the start of Eid al-Adha on December 30, 2006, Saddam Hussein was hanged to death for committing crimes against humanity.


It’s a day that will forever be entrenched in the memory of Iraqis who watched their ruthless leader walk towards the gallows and have a noose tightened around his neck.

Hussein, who ruled Iraq from 1979 until his overthrow and capture by a US-led coalition in 2003, was accused by an Iraqi court of committing numerous massacres during his rule. These included the 1982 slaughter of Shias in the town of Dujail and the 1988 Halabja massacre, in which he used chemical weapons against a Kurdish town that dared to rise against him.


Families of victims celebrated his death, while other Iraqis felt deeply saddened by the jarring footage of a vulnerable man who once was the president of their country.


A number of Iraqis, many of whom were children in 2006, spoke to CNN about their memories and feelings on the day Hussein was executed 10 years ago.... Watch the video 



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