 The Iraqi government released an official videotape of his execution, showing him being led to the gallows, and ending after the hangman's noose was placed over his head.International public controversy arose when a mobile phone recording of the hanging showed him surrounded by a contingent of his countrymen who jeered him in Arabic and praised the Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, and his subsequent fall through the trap door of the gallows.The atmosphere of the execution drew criticism around the world from nations that oppose as well as support capital punishment.