BAGHDAD, Jan 15: Saddam Hussein’s half-brother and the chief of Iraq’s disbanded Revolutionary Court were hanged on Monday — two weeks after the Iraqi president’s bungled execution provoked worldwide condemnation.

The head of Saddam's half-brother Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti was ripped from his body during the pre-dawn execution, but an Iraqi government official insisted that ‘no violations’ had occurred.

Former secret police chief Barzan and Awad Ahmed al-Bandar, the ex-head of Revolutionary Court in the Saddam era, were executed at 3am (5am PST), Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said at a news conference.

Dabbagh said Barzan had been decapitated during his hanging, while Basem Ridha, an adviser to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, termed the ‘incident’ an ‘act of God’.

“There was an incident that happened, that is the separation between the body of Barzan and the head. This happens seldom but it did happen and there was act of God and it was a normal process. It's happened before,” said Ridha.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice condemned the ‘manner’ of the executions, saying it should have been carried out in a ‘dignified way’.

In Amman, Barzan's Jordanian lawyer Issam al-Ghazzawi said: “This is impossible. During executions, the weaker bone in the spinal column is broken.” Asked if he believed that abuses had taken place, Ghazzawi replied: “Violations are expected in Iraq.”

The two condemned men had been convicted of crimes against humanity for the killing of 148 Shias following an assassination attempt against Saddam Hussein in 1982.

They were sentenced to death on Nov 5 along with Saddam.

—AFP