Man held over Saddam execution video

A spokesman for Iraqi prime minister Nuri al-Maliki confirmed today that "an official who supervised the hanging" of Saddam Hussein was being held over a graphic execution video, shot on a mobile phone and later released onto the internet.

The film, as we reported yesterday, has caused a bit of a rumpus, with the UK's deputy prime minister John Prescott slamming it as "deplorable". The two-and-a-half minute clip shows Hussein being taunted by witnesses, with one onlooker shouting "go to hell".

Iraqi prosecutor Munqith al-Faroon, who was present at the hanging, told AP he'd seen "two government officials taking video of the execution", the Guardian explains. He said: "They used mobile phone cameras. I do not know their names, but I would remember their faces." ®