Iraq postponed hanging two of Saddam Hussein's deputies yesterday in the face of international pressure following the ousted dictator's bungled and much criticized hanging.
Meanwhile, two justice ministry guards are being held for questioning in connection with the secret filming of Saddam's final moments.
Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikrit, Saddam's half brother and former intelligence chief and Awad Ahmed al-Bandar, the head of the revolutionary court, were to have been hanged yesterday after the end of the Id al-Adha holiday.
But a senior official from Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's office, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the execution was postponed "due to international pressure."
Baha al-Araji, an influential Shiite lawmaker from radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's parliamentary bloc, said: "I am sure it will be done on Sunday."
On Wednesday, UN spokeswoman Michele Montas said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was opposed to the death penalty.
"The Secretary General strongly believes in the wisdom of Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person," she said.
"He fully endorses the call made today by [UN High Commissioner for Human Rights] Louise Arbour for restraint by the government of Iraq in the execution of the death sentences imposed by the Iraqi high tribunal," she added.
The US military has expressed concern over the manner in which Saddam was hanged, saying it would "have done things differently," and Britain has condemned the leaking of the video.
On Nov. 5, Saddam, Barzan and Bandar were found guilty of ordering the judicial murder of 148 Shiite men and boys from the village Dujail in the 1980s, and sentenced to death for crimes against humanity.
Saddam's execution on Saturday has angered members of Iraq's Sunni minority and triggered criticism from observers who felt he was humiliated minutes before put to death.
A top Iraqi official defended its conduct.
"Where was the humiliation? The shouting of the crowd?" demanded Iraqi National Security Adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, who was present at the execution, during an interview on CNN.
A grisly unofficial video released after Saddam was hanged showed one of the members of the execution party shouting the name of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, a bitter opponent of Saddam.
The two-and-a-half minute film shot on a mobile telephone camera has spread like wildfire on the Internet and triggered angry outbursts within the Sunni Arab community of Iraq and from international leaders.
One of those present at the execution could be heard shouting "Moqtada! Moqtada! Moqtada!" at a sneering Saddam, inspiring some observers to compare the execution to a sectarian lynching.
"Basically they were doing their congregational prayers and supplications, and they mentioned at the end of their supplication the name of Moqtada," Rubaie said. "I can't see where is the humiliation, to be quite honest. Moqtada, Moqtada, Moqtada is not a dirty word, not an obscene word, they were not cursing."
Rubaie also explained why the executioners and Iraqi officials danced around Saddam's body after the hanging.
"This is the tradition of the Iraqis -- when they do something they dance around the body and they express their feelings," he said. "What is wrong with that? If that upsets the feelings of some of the Arab nations and Arab rulers, I think: `The best of luck to them.'"
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