AWJA, Iraq (AFP) — Sunni Arab supporters of Saddam Hussein marked the anniversary of the executed Iraqi dictator's birth on Monday with poems and songs of praise by his grave in his native village of Awja.
A few dozen Saddam relatives and loyalists participated in a ceremony by his tomb 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."
Mahmud al-Tikriti, 35, the caretaker of the hall which houses Saddam's tomb, wished he could have daily celebrations.
"Our love for Saddam and our loyalty to him inspired us to celebrate. We wish that we could celebrate every day to remember him," he said.
In Tikrit, there were no ceremonies to mark the anniversary but residents put up two posters on the city's main mosque, which under Saddam's rule used to bear his name.
"April 28 reminds us of the birthday of Saddam, the Arabian knight," said one poster. "Mercy and compassion be upon the heroic leader on his birthday," said the other.
Sunni Arabs from the Tikrit region dominated Saddam's regime and there is widespread nostalgia in the area for the dictator's rule.
The nostalgia is not shared by the country's Shiite majority but five years after the dictator's overthrow the celebrations for him in Awja sparked little hostility.
"It is the sign of democracy in Iraq," said Abbas Abdul Hussein, a Shiite employee of a private sector company in Baghdad.
"People are free to celebrate the birthday of a man like Saddam who brutalised this country for decades."
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 Shiites from Dujail after an assassination attempt against him in the town, north of Baghdad, in 1982.
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