Another one bites the dust.
Former vice president under Saddam Hussein hangedPOSTED: 9:58 p.m. EDT, March 19, 2007
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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Taha Yassin Ramadan, the former vice president under Saddam Hussein, was hanged just before dawn Tuesday, an official with the prime minister's office told The Associated Press.
An official who witnessed the execution told AP measures were taken in order to prevent a repeat of what happened to Hussein's half brother, Barzan Ibrahim, who was decapitated on the gallows. Ramadan was weighed before the execution and the appropriate size rope was chosen, the official said.
Last month, Ramadan was sentenced to death by Iraq's High Tribunal for his role in the 1982 killing of 148 men and boys in Dujail. An appeals court upheld the sentence last week.
Ramadan was sentenced to life in prison in November on charges that included willful killing in the 1982 crackdown, but the next month, the tribunal's nine-member appeals chamber decided the original sentence was too lenient and ordered the court to resentence him.
The court's decision drew opposition from coalition officials and nongovernmental groups in Iraq, and some members of Iraq's legal advisory community suggested judges came under pressure from politicians.
Hussein and two other officials from his regime -- Awad Bandar and Barzan Hassan -- have also been hanged for their roles in the Dujail crackdown.
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http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/03/19/iraq.main/index.html
