Iraqi Shiite muslim men cry as they escort a truck transporting the symbolic coffin for Iraqi Shiite cleric Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim. (AP)
'Saddam' Tape Denies Bomb Link Story aired: Monday, September 01, 2003
Saddam Hussein has purportedly sent a new tape to the Arabic news channel Al Jazeera. In it, he denies any involvement in the killing of Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim last week.
Hussein also calls those who are pointing the finger at him "hissing serpents spitting venom."
Ayatollah Hakim was blown up by a massive car bomb after Friday prayers last week. He was a moderate cleric, who urged his people and younger clerics to work with American forces to build a more democratic Iraq.
Since yesterday, crowds of Shia mourners have been gathering across Iraq as a funeral procession bearing an empty coffin traveled to the holy city of Najaf: on top of the coffin, a black turban, representing the Ayatollah Hakim. His body was not found at the site of the explosion.
