The prime minister of Iraq today ordered an investigation into the conduct of Saddam Hussein’s execution in a bid to learn who in the group of witnesses taunted the former Iraqi leader in the last minutes of his life and leaked a mobile-phone video of his death to an Arab satellite television station and website.

Sunni Muslims, angered by the execution of Saddam Hussein and the hurried and undignified way his hanging was carried out, have taken to the streets of Iraq in mainly peaceful demonstrations.