Cairo, Jan. 5 (Reuters): Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said in an interview published today that execution had turned deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein into a martyr and pictures of the hanging were “revolting and barbaric”.

In the interview with the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, Mubarak also said the timing of the hanging was “unthinkable” and that experts considered Saddam’s trial under occupation illegal. Mubarak said: “No one will ever forget the way in which Saddam was executed. They turned him into a martyr.”