Smash hit

Mr al-Maliki had previously vowed to track down and punish those responsible for the unauthorised recording, which revealed the former dictator being taunted seconds before his death, with someone shouting "Go to hell".

Some earlier reports had focused on the alleged role of Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, who as National Security Adviser was one of the most senior officials present at the execution. The New York Times reported that Mr Rubaie was seen by Faroon, his fellow witness, holding a mobile phone camera up to record the proceedings.

But this was adamantly denied today by Mr Faroon, who insisted that he had not named anyone to the newspaper.

"I am not accusing Mowaffak al-Rubaie, and I did not see him taking pictures," he said. "But I saw two of the government officials who were...present during the execution taking all the video of the execution, using the lights that were there for the official taping of the execution.

"They used mobile phone cameras. I do not know their names, but I would remember their faces," he told the Associated Press.

Mr Rikabi said he did not see how a senior official could have secretly recorded the execution. "All of their mobile phones had been taken when they were waiting for the helicopter to take them from the Green Zone to Saddam’s execution."

The recording, which has been widely distributed across the internet, has brought widespread condemnation of the manner of Saddam’s execution and has proved a major embarrassment for the Iraqi government.

The grainy but disturbing images have entirely overshadowed the official footage of the death, which do not show the moment of the execution and give the impression of a dignified exit for the former President.

In Iraq, the widely distributed images have inflamed already bitter sectarian tensions between Shias and the Sunni minority, with thousands of the latter flocking to Saddam’s home town of Tikrit to mourn the late leader.

The issue has also been an irritant for Downing Street, which has had to balance Britain’s long-standing opposition to the death penalty with an insistence that Saddam’s fate was a matter for the Iraqi authorities. Tony Blair, who is staying at the Florida home of the former Bee Gee Robin Gibb, has been criticised by some Labour MPs for failing to make an official statement about the execution.

Today, a spokeswoman for Mr Blair said that the inquiry into what "went wrong" had the backing of the Prime Minister, but she refused to endorse comments made yesterday by John Prescott, his deputy, who said that the manner of the hanging was "deplorable".

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the US military said that the execution would have been handled differently if under their control. "If you’re asking me if we would have done things differently, yes we would have," said Major General William Caldwell. "But that’s not our decision, that’s the Government of Iraq’s decision," he said.

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