Saddam's daughters were glued to TV

Amman: Two daughters of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein were glued to TV screens in Amman until his execution on Saturday, sources said.

Saddam's eldest daughter Raghad had to be sedated to contain her tension as she spent the night switching channels, sources said.

They had to put her to sleep in the morning. She was under tremendous stress.

Raghad and her younger sister Rana took refuge in Amman along with their nine children in August 2003, five months after the US toppled Saddam's regime.

Head of Saddam's defence team Khalil Duleimi refrained from commenting on the execution.

"There is nothing more to say. It won't do any good now," he said.

Duleimi, who arrived in Amman last week, said the defence team had been kept in the dark.

On Friday, he received a call from a US army major telling him to nominate someone to collect Saddam's personal belongings.

That was an ominous signal a day after Baghdad's appeal court upheld a death sentence against Saddam Hussein, handed down on November 5.

But, on such a short notice, none of Saddam's lawyers managed to leave for Baghdad for security and logistic reasons.

Lebanese defence lawyer Bushra Khalil arrived in Amman en route to Baghdad in the middle of the week. But, so far, she had not received travel permission from the Iraqi authorities.

"We were in a state of tension and shock when we heard that Saddam had been handed over to the Iraqi side," Khalil said in Amman.

"We worried that he might be mistreated,” Khalil added.

The Lebanese lawyer plans to go to Baghdad Sunday to check Saddam's body and arrange for its burial.

Jordanian papers criticised the execution of Iraq's former ruler, warning it would further ignite violence across the war-torn country.