Barzan Ibrahim al - Tikriti Barzan Ibrahim al - Hasan al - Tikriti ( February 17 , 1951 – January 15 , 2007 ) ( also known as Barazan Ibrahim al - Tikriti , Barasan Ibrahem Alhassen , and Barzan Hassan ) ( ; " Barzān Ibrāhīm al - Ḥasan at - Tikrītī " ) was one of three half - brothers of Saddam Hussein , and a leader of the Mukhabarat , the Iraqi intelligence service . Despite falling out of favour with Saddam at one time , he was believed to have been a close presidential adviser at the time of his capture . On January 15 , 2007 , he was hanged for crimes against humanity . The rope decapitated him because wrong measurements were used in conjunction with how far he was dropped from the platform . High position in Iraqi government . Al - Tikriti was a leading figure in the Mukhabarat , the intelligence service that later turned to another agency performing the duty of Secret Police , from the 1970s , later taking over as director . During his time in the secret police , al - Tikriti played a key role in the Iraqi regime ' s execution of opponents at home and assassinations abroad . He was also known for his ruthlessness and brutality in purging the Iraqi military of anyone seen as disloyal . Al - Tikriti became Iraq ' s representative to the United Nations in Geneva — including the UN Human Rights Committee — in 1989 . He was in Geneva for almost a decade , during which he is believed to have managed clandestine accounts for the Iraqi president ' s overseas fortune . This task was then taken over by a network of foreign brokers , since Hussein had decided that no one in Iraq could be trusted with this task . U . S . officials characterized al - Tikriti as a member of what they called " Saddam ' s Dirty Dozen " , responsible for torture and mass murder in Iraq . U . S . forces captured him on April 17 , 2003 . Al - Tikriti was the five of clubs in the most - wanted Iraqi playing cards . Post - invasion . Al - Tikriti was among the leadership figures who U . S . forces targeted during the Iraq War . In April 2003 , warplanes dropped six satellite - guided bombs on a building in the Iraqi city of Ramadi , west of Baghdad , where he was thought to be . In late summer 2003 , al - Tikriti was confirmed captured alive by U . S . Army Special Forces with a large entourage of bodyguards in Baghdad . He was turned over to Iraq ’ s Interim Government on June 30 , 2004 , and was arraigned on July 1 , 2004 . Trial and courtroom charges . Al - Tikriti ' s trial started on October 19 , 2005 . He was a defendant in the Iraq Special Tribunal ' s Al - Dujail trial , and Abd al - Semd al - Husseini was his defence counsel . In a first stage , Al - Tikriti stood trial before a five - judge panel for the Dujail Massacre . He was charged for crimes against humanity , simultaneously with seven other former high officials ( Taha Yassin Ramadan , Saddam Hussein , Awad Hamed al - Bandar , Abdullah Kadhem Roweed Al - Musheikhi , Ali Daeem Ali , Mohammed Azawi Ali and Mizher Abdullah Roweed Al - Musheikhi ) . They were said to have ordered and overseen the killings , in July 1982 , of more than 140 Shiite men from Dujail , a village 35 miles north of Baghdad . The men were allegedly killed in retribution after a July 8 , 1982 attack on the presidential motorcade as it passed through the village . It was alleged that , apart from the killings , hundreds of women and children from the town were jailed for years in desert internment camp s , and that the date palm groves , which sustained the local economy and were the families ' livelihood , were destroyed . During the first court session on October 19 , 2005 , al - Tikriti pleaded not guilty . During his trial , he was known for his angry outbursts in court and was ejected on several occasions . In the weeks following the first audience , serious security concerns for the defense team of Hussein and the other accused became apparent . On October 21 , 2005 , 36 hours after the first hearing , a group of unidentified armed men dragged one of the attorneys from his office in east Baghdad and shot him dead . A few days later , a second lawyer was killed in a drive - by shooting , and a third , injured in that attack , subsequently fled Iraq for sanctuary in Qatar . As a result , calls for the trial to be held abroad were heard . The defense lawyers , supported by the Iraqi Bar Association , imposed a boycott on the trial until their security concerns were met with specific measures . A few days before the trial was to resume , the defense team announced that it had accepted offers of protection from Iraqi and U . S . officials and would appear in court on November 28 , 2005 . The agreement is said to have included the same level of protection that is offered to the Iraqi judges and prosecutors , with measures such as armored cars and teams of bodyguards . After a short court session on November 28 , 2005 , during which some testimony regarding the killings in Dujail was presented , Judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin ordered a one - week adjournment until December 5 , to grant the defence teams time to find new counsel . On March 12 , 2006 , the prosecutor announced that if Hussein and his seven co - defendants were sentenced to death in the Dujail case , the sentence would be carried out as soon as possible . Thus , the other cases for which they were indicted would not be heard in court . On June 19 , 2006 , the prosecutor asked the court , in his closing arguments , that the death penalty be imposed upon al - Tikriti , Hussein and Ramadan . On November 5 , 2006 , al - Tikriti was sentenced to death by hanging . Appeals . A death sentence or life imprisonment generates an automatic appeal . On December 3 , 2006 , the defence team lodged an appeal against the verdicts for al - Tikriti , Hussein and al - Bander , who had been sentenced to death . On December 26 , 2006 , the appeals chamber confirmed the verdict and the death sentence against al - Tikriti . In November 2006 , Iraqi President Jalal Talabani appealed for al - Tikriti to be moved to medical facilities to receive treatment for his spinal cancer . Al - Tikriti originally made an appeal from his cell to U . S . President George W . Bush and to Talabani for treatment , referring to the latter as an " old friend " . Execution . On January 15 , 2007 , the death sentence was carried out . Al - Tikriti , along with co - defendants Hussein and the former Chief Justice of the Iraqi Revolutionary Court al - Bandar , was sentenced to death by hanging . He was originally scheduled to hang on December 30 with Hussein ( as he and al - Bandar wished ) but due to the Eid , lack of time , and lack of logistics ( there was no helicopter to deliver them ) , as well as international pressure , the hangings were postponed to January 15 . Al - Tikriti ' s sentence was carried out at 03 : 00 local time ( 00 : 00 UTC ) on January 15 , 2007 . His death was confirmed at 3 : 05 / 00 : 05 UTC . Barzan was decapitate d by the long drop . Al - Tikriti ' s and al - Bandar ' s counsel was not allowed to attend , as was the case with Hussein ' s hanging . Reaction to the execution . " " We were disappointed there was not greater dignity given to the accused under these circumstances . " " " " We heard the news from the media . We were supposed to be informed a day earlier but it seems that this government does not know the rules . " " He said the execution reflected the hatred felt by the Shiite - led government : " " They still want more Iraqi bloodshed . To hell with this democracy " . "