The Iraqi government delayed the execution of two aides of executed former president Saddam Hussein to Sunday, the Iraqi state-run television reported on Thursday.

"I can confirm that the execution will be done on Sunday," Bahaa al-Araji, a lawmaker from a group of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, was quoted as saying.

Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, Saddam's half-brother and former intelligence chief, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, the former chief justice of the Revolutionary Court, had been reported to be executed on Thursday but was postponed until Sunday, al-Araji added.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi authorities have detained two Justice Ministry guards for interrogation over secretly filming Saddam's execution, which incited resentment inside and outside Iraq, said Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's advisor Sami al-Askari.

"Two guards who are employees of the Justice Ministry have been held for questioning, but there are no charges against them yet," Askari said.

Saddam's execution on Saturday was secretly filmed, obviously with a mobile phone. The two-and-a-half minute film was first broadcast by the pan-Arab al-Jazeera TV channel on Sunday and widely circulated on the Internet.

In the film, Saddam was seen taunted by Shiite witnesses at the very last moments of his life, including one who shouted the name of a radical Shiite cleric-"Muqtada, Muqtada, Muqtada."

Askari, however, did not give a date to hang two Saddam's aides, but he said they will be executed after the holidays Eid al-Adha and the weekend.

On Dec. 26, 2006, the appeals court upheld the death sentence to Barzan al-Tikriti and Awad al-Bander who got the death penalty over the Dujail killings.

Meanwhile, the appeals court requested that Taha Yassin Ramadan, former vice president, also be hanged after he was sentenced to life imprisonment, citing that his verdict was insufficient.

Saddam's hanging sparked anger among Sunni people who consider the way of execution as sectarian revenge and the timing of the execution on the first day of the Islamic festival of Eid al-Adha,or Greater Bairam as insult for them.

(Source: Xinhua News Agency January 4, 2007)