Lahore, Nov 2 : The dead body of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein who was executed around two years ago, was stabbed at least six times (after being executed), the head guard at the former president’s tomb in north of Baghdad has claimed. The guard was one of the 300 persons who helped bury the corpse.

“There were six stab wounds on his body. Four of the wounds were on the former president’s front and two on his back,” Pakistani daily the Daily Times quoted Talal Misrab (45), the head guard, as saying in an interview with The Times.

He also said there was an injury to his face, and that 300 other people witnessed the injuries when the body was buried in the early hours of the morning, the day after Saddam was executed.

But, the claim has been categorically denied by the head of Saddam’s tribe. Similarly, the Iraqi government has also denied of any mutilation took place after the dictator was hanged on December 30, 2006.

Saddam’s tomb is housed in a large hall in al-Awja, a small village north of Baghdad where Saddam spent much of his childhood.

Another tribesman said he had been told by Sheikh Ali al-Neda, the former head of Saddam’s tribe, who has since also died, that the body had stab wounds.

Meanwhile, Iraq’s security adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie denied the allegation, saying: “I oversaw the whole process from A-Z and Saddam Hussein’s body was not, not stabbed or mutilated and he was not humiliated before execution.”

Sheikh Hasan al-Neda, who is now leader of Saddam’s tribe, also dismissed the suggestion that anyone had mutilated the corpse. “I swear by God his body was totally intact except for a bruise on his cheek. When we received the body in Baghdad, we were told that they [the Iraqi authorities] washed and wrapped it according to Islamic traditions, but we still washed him again here in Tikrit,” said al-Neda.

He added: “My son Ahmed was there and he told a Saudi newspaper that the body was not mutilated in any way.” (ANI)