Official arrested over Saddam hanging video

Iraqi authorities have arrested an official accused of recording Saddam Hussein's execution on a cellphone, an adviser to the prime minister said Wednesday.

The adviser to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who spoke on condition of anonymity, did not identify the person. But he said it was "an official who supervised the execution" and who is now under investigation.

"In the past few hours, the government has arrested the person who made the video of Saddam's execution," the adviser said.

Iraqi state television broadcast an official video of Saturday's hanging, which had no audio and never showed Saddam's actual death. The leaked cellphone video, which made its way onto the Internet, showed the ousted leader exchanging taunts with witnesses in his final moments.

After Saddam recited prayers, the guards shouted praise for Muqtada al-Sadr, the radical Shiite cleric.

"Is this how you show your bravery as men?" Saddam asked.

"Straight to hell," someone shouted back at him.