Iraq to investigate execution video

The Iraqi government has launched an inquiry into how the hanging of Saddam Hussain, the country's former leader, was filmed and who was behind it.

The video has provoked outrage, with thousands of Sunni Muslims holding demonstrations in and around Tikrit, Saddam's northern hometown.

"An investigation has been launched into who cried out during the execution, and into who filmed it and put it out there," an official close to Nuri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, was reported as saying.

The film, apparently taken with a mobile phone, showed Saddam at his execution on Saturday being taunted by witnesses, including one who shouted the name of Moqtada al-Sadr, a Shia cleric.