Mobile Phone Video
While officially released footage of the event stopped short of showing the actual execution, an amateur video shot using a camera phone from a staircase leading up to the gallows surfaced, contained low-quality footage of the entire hanging. The amateur footage, unlike the official footage, included sound; witnesses could be heard taunting Saddam at the gallows.
On January 3, 2007, the Iraqi government arrested the guard who they believe made the mobile phone video. However, it was too late to prevent the video from spreading across the internet. Iraqi National Security Advisor Mowaffak al-Rubaie later held a press conference where he announced that three arrests had been made in connection with the investigation into the video recording and leak. A week later, another video surfaced on the Internet, which showed Saddam's body with a large neck wound, creating speculation that the execution had been carried out incorrectly.
In the scene when the trapdoor was opened, an audible crack sounded indicating his broken neck. After the doctor checked his heartbeat using a stethoscope, he replied none. When this footage was shown in the news, media coverage decided to cut the scene of the opening of the trapdoor.
Read more about this topic: Execution Of Saddam Hussein
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