Man arrested for recording Saddam Hussein video

Baghdad (Iraq) - Iraqi officials have arrested the person they believe to be the one who captured the video of the hanging of Saddam Hussein, which rampantly circulated through the Internet, including a widely viewed video on YouTube.

The Associated Press reports that an advisor to the Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki announced that the person in question was an official who supervised the execution and that he is now "under investigation."

The hanging took place on December 30 after a long, drawn-out specially crafted trial ended in a guilty verdict for Saddam Hussein. According to US military spokesperson Major General William Caldwell, Hussein took his death in stride. "He spoke very well to our military police, as he always had, and when getting off at the prison site he said farewell to his interpreter ; he thanked the military police squad," said Caldwell.

Where the real rage entered was in the public crowd who watched Hussein’s hanging. Profane swears and insults were shouted moments before and during his death. The hanging was broadcast on Al-Jazeera, but without audio. It also cut away before Hussein actually died. The Internet-circulated video, however, which was captured with a cell phone camera, has full audio and includes the actual hanging. That was the primary reason for the violent outcry among the Sunnis, who have always opposed the capturing and sentencing of Hussein.

Though officials would not comment on who was arrested, there is speculation that it was Iraqi security advisor Mowaffak al-Rubaie, according to Munqith al-Faroon, an Iraqi prosecutor who said he witnessed two government officers using their cell phones during the proceedings.