Baghdad, Jan 15 (DPA) Saddam Hussein's half-brother and the chief judge under Saddam's regime were hanged early Monday after they were convicted along with the former Iraqi president of the 1982 massacre of 148 Shia Muslims, television reports said.

The executions of Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, former head of Iraq's intelligence service, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, former head of Iraq's revolutionary court, were carried out before dawn, CNN, al-Jazeera and the BBC reported. They came two weeks after Saddam was put to death.

The executions occurred about 5 a.m. (0200 GMT), CNN said, citing Badee Aref, a defence attorney for several officials in Saddam's regime.

The US military said the bodies of al-Tikriti and al-Bandar would be delivered to their families within hours.

The two along with Saddam were found guilty in November in the killings in the city of Dujail, which were carried out in retaliation for a plot to assassinate the dictator.

Monday's hangings were carried out despite international appeals to halt them, including from UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, the European Union and human rights groups that argued the trial was flawed and unfair.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani also urged the government last week to put off the hangings.

The hangings follow an uproar over Saddam's Dec 30 execution. Videos showing Saddam, a Sunni, being taunted by Shias during the hanging were disseminated via mobile phones, on the Internet and shown on television.

The scenes, which included shouts against Saddam and for Shia militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr, were condemned internationally and provoked anger among Sunnis.

Meanwhile, it was reported that al-Tikriti's daughter Thuraya was not informed of the pending execution of her father, al-Arabia television channel reported.

Al-Tikriti, who was suffering from cancer, was among the 52 named in a US wanted list after Saddam's regime was overthrown in 2003.