The former deputy in Saddam Hussein's government was hanged before dawn Tuesday, the prime minister's office said. Taha Yassin Ramadan, who was Saddam's vice president when the regime was ousted by the U.S.-led invasion that began four years ago in Iraq was the fourth man to be executed in the killings following a 1982 assassination attempt against the former leader in the town of Dujail, according to a report of the Associated Press. Bassam al-Hassani, an adviser to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, said precautions were taken to prevent a repeat of what happened to Saddam's half brother and co-defendant Barzan Ibrahim, who was inadvertently decapitated on the gallows during his January execution. Ramadan, who was nearly 70, was weighed before the hanging and the length of the rope was chosen accordingly, al-Hassani said. The execution took place at 3:05 a.m. in an Iraqi army and police base in northern Baghdad. Ramadan had been in U.S. custody but was handed over to the Iraqis before the hanging, according to al-Hassani, who witnessed the hanging. Ramadan was convicted in November of murder, forced deportation and torture and sentenced to life in prison. A month later, an appeals court said the sentence was too lenient, and returned his case to the High Tribunal, which sentenced him to death. Ramadan, who became vice president in March 1991 and was a Revolutionary Command Council member — Iraq's highest political body under Saddam — had maintained his innocence, saying his duties were limited to economic affairs, not security issues. Saddam was executed on Dec. 30 for his role in the killings. Two of his co-defendants in the Dujail case — Ibrahim, Saddam's former intelligence chief, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, former head of Iraq's Revolutionary Court — were executed in January.
