The body of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, who was executed by
hanging at dawn yesterday, will be handed over to his tribal leader last night,
to be buried in his village of Uwja this morning, a senior provincial official
told Xinhua.
"In short time, the governor of Salahudin province Hamad Hamoudal-Qaisy, his
deputy and Sheikh Ali al-Neda, head of the Saddam's tribe, will receive the body
of Saddam Hussein," deputy governor of Salahudin province Abdullah Jabara told
Xinhua by telephone.
"The handover of Saddam's body will be in Baghdad's Green Zone tonight,"
Jabara said.
Earlier in the day, Jabara said the province will not send representatives to
attend a burial of Saddam in Baghdad, insisting that the executed leader should
be interred in Uwja village where his sons were buried in 2003.
The government "told us to send provincial representatives, including the
governor or his deputy and the leader of Saddam's tribe to the burial of
executed Saddam," said Jabara.
"I answered that we will not go to Baghdad unless they agree to give us his
body to hold a suitable funeral for him and bury him in Uwja village beside his
sons Uday and Qusay," he added.
At dawn on Saturday, the first day of four-day Islamic festival Eid al-Adha,
or Greater Bairam, Saddam was executed by hanging in Baghdad.
Hours after Iraqi government hanged Saddam, a series of bombing attacks hit
Baghdad and Kufa town near the holy Shiite city of Najaf, killing scores of
people.
