One of two of Saddam's aides executed by hanging was decapitated. This only re-enforces the horror of the "justice" being handed out in Iraq by the US supported government.

Saddam's half brother, Barzan Ibrahim, was the head of Saddam's intelligence organisation and had his head severed from his body when he was hung this morning alongside the former head of the Iraqi Revolutionary Court for their role in the deaths of 148 in 1982.

The hanging and beheading was filmed by the government, though, as they were taking no chances of the repeat of any abuse being recorded, the filming has no sound. There seems to have been a ban on camera phones also.

Reports state that the two men, who were dressed in bright orange jumpsuits trembled with fear as their hooded executioners brought them to the gallows. The filming captured the hanging and decapitation of Barzan Ibrahim.

Another glorious example of US/Iraqi justice.

Watch the BBC video report here

"I thought the convict Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti had escaped the noose. I shouted that he's escaped the noose, go down and look for him. I went down a few steps ahead of the others to see: I found out that his head had separated from his body."

---public prosecutor Jaafar al-Moussawi on the execution of two of Saddam Hussein's aides one of whom was decapitated by the hanging.

The Iraqis have launched an investigation into how Saddam Hussein's execution was filmed on a cameraphone and released to the world via the internet.

It seems that the 'spectators' at the execution were not banned from filming the event on any sort of recording device. The Iraqi government took no steps to see how Saddam was treated or if he was filmed and may have even permitted it, unofficially. Some reports say that those filming the execution on their phones were senior government officials.

Aside from the filming Saddam was also subjected to abuse from witnesses and this too was recorded on the footage. So bad was the shouting and abuse that prosecutor Munkith al-Faroon (an official witness as required by Iraqi law) threatened to leave the room, his leaving would have meant the hanging would have to be postponed. In the event, order was restored and Saddam was hung in the middle of his prayers.

However now that Saddam is fast becoming a martyr for Sunni supporters and that there is a back lash to the filming the Iraqi Government are launching an inquiry into the hows and whys of the filming and the abuse.

Far from bringing a bloody chapter to an end, the execution coupled with the abuse heaped on the condemned Saddam and the filming and publication of it, have left Iraq even more divided than ever as Sunni's increasingly see the execution as an attack on them by the Shi'ites. The impossible is becoming the probable as Saddam is acquiring a status as a martyr to Shi'ite justice.

The bloodshed continues in Iraq, 2,000 people died in December, there are now 3,000 dead US soldiers since 2003 and the civilian death toll is nearing 60,000. Saddam's execution has done nothing to settle the situation and may yet spark off more blood shed as the divide between Sunni and Shi'ite stretches wider in the wake of the hanging of the dictator.

It would appear that violence will begat violence. Saddam's killing will only lead to more killing.

If you want to watch that clip you can visit Pull out the Pin who has a link to the execution footage there which allows you to watch the hanging of Saddam Hussein click here.