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Saddam supporters hold demonstrations

Atul Aneja

Mourners walk to Mr. Hussein's graveside to pay their respects

DUBAI: Amid growing sectarian tensions, hundreds of angry demonstrators have condemned the Americans and Iraq's Shia-dominated government over Saturday's execution of the former Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein.

The protesters marched in Ad-Dawr, a village north of Baghdad where American troops had captured Mr. Hussein in December 2003. The site of the protests was not far from Awja, where Mr. Hussein's body was interned in the early hours on Sunday. Many of the protesters, who were armed, fired guns in the air and carried large posters of the former President. One such poster, showing Mr. Hussein wearing a traditional Arab dress read: "Hero and Martyr Saddam Hussein."

One of the demonstrators , a 27-year-old Sunni Arab, was quoted as saying, "We are against Americans, Prime Minister [Nouri al-] Maliki, Moqtada Sadr and [Grand Ayatollah Ali] Sistani because they executed Saddam Hussein."

Ayatollah Ali Sistani is the top Shia spiritual leader in Iraq, while Mr. Moqtada Al Sadr is a firebrand Shia cleric, who bitterly opposed Mr. Hussein.

The crowd called Mr. Al Sadr a "coward" and Abdulaziz Al Hakim, another Shia leader, who spent several years in exile in Iran, a "traitor."

The Arabic daily Al Hayat has said that members of the Mahdi army loyal to Mr. Al Sadr are suspected to have carried out Mr. Hussein's pre-dawn execution. Taped conversation in the execution chamber showed that someone in the room shouted Mr. Al Sadr's name shortly before Mr. Hussein was executed. The daily also pointed out that the Iraqi Baath party had appointed Izzat Ibrahim Al Douri as Mr. Hussein's successor.

In the nearby town of Tikrit, a Sunni stronghold of the former President, dozens of tents catering for the hordes of mourners have sprouted. Queues of men, women and children sat facing each other in the tents while volunteers served the customary bitter black coffee — a part of the mourning ritual. With vehicles banned, hundreds of mourners have walked up to Mr. Hussein's graveside in Awja, to pay their respects. Mr. Hussein was executed for his role in the killing of 148 Shias, following an assassination attempt on his life in 1982, in the village of Dujail.

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