Tikrit:
Erected as the Great Saddam Mosque in 2002, the imposing building was renamed the Great Tikrit Mosque after the former president was ousted following the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.
But the imam rejected the new name, according to a source in his family.
"This was not because he supports Saddam Hussein but because Saddam had built (the mosque), and that belongs to the history of Tikrit," the source said. "He says the people of Tikrit must keep the memory of Saddam."
Born in 1937 in the village of Awja, a few kilometres from Tikrit, Saddam ruled Iraq with an iron fist from 1979 until he was overthrown in 2003. He was hanged in December 2006.
But the imam rejected the new name, according to a source in his family.
"This was not because he supports Saddam Hussein but because Saddam had built (the mosque), and that belongs to the history of Tikrit," the source said. "He says the people of Tikrit must keep the memory of Saddam."
Born in 1937 in the village of Awja, a few kilometres from Tikrit, Saddam ruled Iraq with an iron fist from 1979 until he was overthrown in 2003. He was hanged in December 2006.
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