Some 2,500 people commemorated Saddam Hussein at Jordan's largest pro-Saddam rally since the deposed leader was hanged Saturday.

Participants called Iraqi Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr "ignoble" and chanted "Muqtada you are without an identity" and "we will crush your head with our boots" at the gathering on Wednesday.

In a leaked video of the hanging, Saddam is taunted with chants of "Muqtada, Muqtada" before being executed.

	Advertisement

Most participants in Wednesday's rally, called by Jordan's professional associations and opposition parties, were Jordanian. This U.S.-ally is home to a large Iraqi exile community that includes two of Saddam's daughters.

Tayseer al-Homsi, secretary-general of Jordan's branch of Saddam's Baath party, condemned Saddam's execution in his speech to the emotional crowd.

"The evil American administration, which already assassinated Iraq, before it assassinated its legitimate president, has put its interests in the region in danger," al-Homsi said. "Avenging Iraq and its martyred president has become a popular and Arab demand from the (Atlantic) Ocean to the Gulf."

Protesters interrupted al-Homsi with angry slogans against the United States, the Iraqi government and Iran. The ousted Iraqi leader was executed in Baghdad on Saturday.

"Saddam Hussein you are the symbol of the Arab Nation," and "Iran your day will come," and "America your are the enemy of God! Muqtada you are the enemy of God!" shouted the protesters bearing portraits of Saddam and waving the Iraqi flag.

Hamza Mansoor, an Islamic Action Front leader - the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood Movement in Jordan - also took the podium and delivered a fiery speech praising Saddam and condemning the U.S.-led occupation.

"The one who assassinated President Saddam Hussein is the one who occupied Iraq and destroyed an eight-thousand-year-old civilization," Mansoor said. "It is the Americans who brought the stupid and criminal clique which is ruling Iraq now."