The official video of hanging of Saddam Hussein's co-defendants screened for reporters today shows the former leader's half brother lying headless below gallows, his severed head several yards away.

The half-brother of Saddam Hussein and the former head of Iraq’s Revolutionary Court were hanged before dawn today, two weeks and two days after the former dictator was executed in a disturbing scene that drew worldwide criticism.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani today called for the execution of two of Saddam Hussein’s co-defendants to be delayed.

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 Iraqi dictator was executed, their lawyer said.

Saddam top aide wishes he had been executed with the deposed leader, an Iraqi lawyer said today.

An Iraqi government official today said that preparations were being made to hang two of Saddam Hussein’s co-defendants tomorrow.

Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was executed today.

Lawyers for Saddam Hussein tonight asked a US judge in Washington to block his transfer to the custody of Iraqi officials poised to carry out his execution.

IRAQ’S highest appeals court yesterday upheld the death sentence on Saddam Hussein.

Iraq’s highest appeals court upheld the death sentence for Saddam Hussein, Iraq’s national security adviser said today.

Saddam Hussein’s lawyers have formally appealed against his death sentence for the killing of 148 Shiites.

Saddam Hussein’s lawyers today appealed the death sentence against their toppled Iraqi leader, accusing the court of trying to delay the process.

IRAQ’S appeals court is expected to rule on Saddam Hussein’s guilty verdict and death sentence by the middle of January, the chief prosecutor said yesterday.

Iraq's appeals court is expected to rule on Saddam Hussein's guilty verdict and death sentence by the middle of January, the chief prosecutor said today.

Baghdad and two restive Sunni provinces were today locked under 24-hour curfew in the wake of Saddam Hussein’s death sentence for crimes against humanity in Iraq.

Defiant, raging and arrogant to the end, Saddam Hussein shouted: “God is great,” as he was sentenced to hang, then walked from the courtroom with a smirk on his face.

Iraq’s High Tribunal today found Saddam Hussein guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced him to hang for the 1982 killing of 148 Shiites in the city of Dujail. The visibly shaken former leader shouted “God is great”.

Iraq's High Tribunal today found Saddam Hussein guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced him to death by hanging.

Saddam Hussein shouted his support for Iraqi insurgents, yelling “Long live the mujahedeen” in the latest session of his Baghdad trial today.

Increased attacks by insurgents over the past two days have killed at least 44 Iraqis, including 12 labourers – five of them brothers – who were gunned down at a construction site.

A suicide car bomber killed two Iraqis and wounded five today in an attack on a police patrol in an area of Baghdad where insurgents had kidnapped and murdered a defence lawyer in Saddam Hussein’s trial last week, police said.

The defence team in the trial of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein has demanded that the case be delayed or moved out of Iraq, following the kidnapping and murder of one of its lawyers.

A DEFENCE lawyer in Saddam Hussein’s mass murder trial has been found dead, his body dumped near a Baghdad mosque with two gunshots to the head.

The body of a defence lawyer in Saddam Hussein’s mass murder trial was found dumped in the street with two bullet wounds in the head hours after gunmen dragged him from his office, terrorising the defence team, who today demanded the trial be further postponed or even moved out of Iraq.

A defence lawyer in Saddam Hussein’s mass murder trial who was kidnapped has been found dead, his body dumped near a Baghdad mosque, police and a top lawyers’ union official said today.

A senior lawyers’ union official in Baghdad has said the kidnapped lawyer of one of Saddam Hussein’s co-defendants has been killed and that his body has been found.

Saddam Hussein today declared himself not guilty of alleged crimes against fellow Iraqis, turning immediately argumentative and challenging the legitimacy of the court as he appeared before a five-judge tribunal in the former headquarters of his Baath Party two years after his capture.

Saddam Hussein went on trial today for alleged crimes against fellow Iraqis, turning immediately argumentative as he appeared in a tightly secured courtroom in the former headquarters of his Baath Party two years after his capture.

Ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein will face charges of premeditated murder, torture and forced expulsion and disappearances when he goes on trial on Wednesday for a 1982 massacre of Shiites.

Ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein will face charges of premeditated murder, torture and forced expulsion and disappearances when he goes on trial next week for a 1982 massacre of Shiites, a court official said today.

LAWYERS for former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein complained yesterday that plans to start his trial next month gave him too little time to prepare his defence.

Plans to hold former Iraq president Saddam Hussein’s trial next month gives too little time to his defence team to prepare his case, a family lawyer complained today.

The Iraqi government announced today that the trial of Saddam Hussein will begin on October 19.

Iraqi authorities have set October 19 as the date for the start of the trial of Saddam Hussein, an official said. A Western diplomat discounted the report as ”posturing".

An Iraqi court has decided to begin the first trial of Saddam Hussein on October 19 and is in the process of notifying his legal team, a legal official said today.

THE first criminal case has been filed against Saddam Hussein.

Saddam Hussein and three others will stand trial in the 1982 massacre of Shiite villagers north of Baghdad, a senior judge announced today.