April 16
In his native village of Al-Awjah, the mausoleum of Iraq’s executed president Saddam Hussain has been reduced to broken concrete and tangled barbed wire, showing no trace of his remains.
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But today, mystery and doubt hang over the final resting place of a man whose very name for decades filled Iraqis with dread.
Is his body still in Al-Awjah or was it exhumed, and, if so, where to?
A video has gone viral on social Networking meanwhile showing people taking out the body of Saddam from a grave and offering his funeral.
If the video is authentic, It’s surprising that the body of Saddam is in the same condition it must have been buried In, neither decayed, nor damaged.
Shaikh Manaf Ali Al-Nida, a leader of the Albu Nasser tribe to which Saddam’s clan belongs, has held on to a letter his family signed when they received the body, agreeing that Saddam be buried without delay.
Saddam, 69, was laid to rest before dawn in the mausoleum he had commissioned years earlier.
Jaafar Al-Gharawi, the security chief of Saddam’s Mausoleum insisted: “The body is still there.”
One of his fighters, however, speculated that Saddam’s exiled daughter Hala had flown in on a private plane and whisked her father’s body away to Jordan.
“Impossible!” said a university professor and longtime student of the Saddam era, who declined to give his name.
“Hala has never come back to Iraq,” he said. “(The body) could have been taken to a secret place… nobody knows who moved it or where.”
If that was the case, Saddam’s family would have closely guarded the secret of the location, he added.
But some, including Baghdad resident Abu Samer, believe the Iraqi strongman is still out there.
“Saddam’s not dead,” he said. “It was one of his doubles who was hanged.”
Jaafar Al-Gharawi, the security chief of Saddam’s Mausoleum insisted: “The body is still there.”
One of his fighters, however, speculated that Saddam’s exiled daughter Hala had flown in on a private plane and whisked her father’s body away to Jordan.
“Impossible!” said a university professor and longtime student of the Saddam era, who declined to give his name.
“Hala has never come back to Iraq,” he said. “(The body) could have been taken to a secret place… nobody knows who moved it or where.”
If that was the case, Saddam’s family would have closely guarded the secret of the location, he added.
But some, including Baghdad resident Abu Samer, believe the Iraqi strongman is still out there.
“Saddam’s not dead,” he said. “It was one of his doubles who was hanged.”