SUNNI Arab supporters of Saddam Hussein have marked the anniversary of the executed Iraqi dictator`s birth with poems and songs of praise by his grave in his native village of Awja.
A few dozen Saddam relatives and loyalists today participated in a small ceremony by his grave in a hall in the village near the central city of Tikrit, capital of Salaheddin province.
Several poets gave recitals in praise of Saddam, while a group of children carrying pictures of the dictator and roses in their hands joined in the singing.
"We are celebrating the birth anniversary of president Saddam Hussein. It is our way of rejecting the occupation and the sectarianism that has come along with it,`` said Shah Hamid al-Juburi, who heads a children`s organisation in the province.
"We are celebrating the anniversary because we love Saddam, who was the symbol of Iraq`s unity.``
Born poor in what was then just a mud-hut village on April 28, 1937, Saddam overcame his roots to rise to Iraq`s highest office and live in the grandest of palaces.
He was hanged on December 30, 2006, after an Iraqi court found him guilty of crimes against humanity for ordering the execution of 148 Shi`ites from Dujail after an assassination attempt against him in the town, north of Baghdad.
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