Saddam aides' execution postponed

A Shiite lawmaker and an Iraqi official say that the two former henchmen will be hanged on Sunday.

The execution of two former henchmen of ousted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein has been postponed by three days to Sunday, a Shiite lawmaker and an Iraqi government official said.

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Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikrit, Saddam's half-brother and former intelligence chief, and Awad Ahmed al-Bandar, the head of the revolutionary court, were to be hanged on Thursday.

"I am sure it will be done on Sunday," said Shiite MP Baha al-Araji from the group of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

Another senior official with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's office said that the execution was postponed "due to international pressure.