Story Highlights • Second boy in Morocco to die re-enacting hanging, also happened elsewhere
• Images of Hussein's execution shown repeatedly on Arabic TV
• Deaths lead to worries over influence of violent war video on children
• Many Sunnis saw Hussein as heroic on the gallows, impressing children
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RABAT, Morocco (Reuters) -- A Moroccan man returned home to find his 11-year-old son hanging dead from the ceiling, a newspaper said on Thursday, the latest victim of a macabre game in which children mimic the death of Saddam Hussein.
The boy decided to copy the former Iraq leader's execution while playing with his younger sister at their home in Khemisset, 80 kilometers (50 miles) east of the capital of Rabat, newspaper Al Ahdat al-Maghrebia reported.
"The girl then went to school and left her brother playing his deadly game," it said, adding that local officials had opened an inquiry into the death.
Saddam's execution on December 30 came as families gathered for the religious feast of Eid al-Adha and the images of the former Iraqi leader on the gallows shown repeatedly on Arabic news channels spurred indignation among his fellow Sunni Muslims.
Boy latest of children who copied hanging
Since then, several stories have emerged of children dying or being injured after being captivated by the manner of Hussein's death or by family conversations about the execution.
One 12-year-old Saudi boy died after using a chair and a metal wire to hang himself from a door frame, while another in Algeria was found hanging from a tree, papers reported.
Two boys in different regions of Azerbaijan hanged themselves at the weekend and may have been influenced by Hussein's execution, a security source in the country said.
The death of a 15-year-old boy last week in the Moroccan coastal city of Casablanca was also suspected of being the result of another re-enactment.
Fears that children too affected by violence in TV news
The deaths have led many to question the television coverage of the graphic violence in Iraq and the Palestinian territories and the influence on children across the region.
"What have children to do with this kind of thing? They should be playing, painting or reading," said Moroccan sociologist Youssef Sadik.
"It is a characteristic of the Muslim world that we have an over-politicized society. Everyone's into politics, discussing events in Palestine and Iraq and hooked on Al-Jazeera."
The manner of Husein's execution at the hands of a U.S.-backed government led by Iraq's Shiite Arab majority led many people in predominantly Sunni Muslim North Africa to momentarily forget his past record.
Many were impressed by his dignity on the gallows in the face of insults hurled at him in his final moments and some praised him as a hero.
That clearly had a powerful effect on younger minds, said Sadik.
"Children in Morocco are under pressure from an early age to try to be heroes themselves, to be the ones who succeeded where others around them did not," he said.
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Nachdem Ende des vergangenen Jahres, nur einen Tag nach der Hinrichtung von Saddam Hussein, ein Video im Internet aufgetaucht war, welches das Erhängen des ehemaligen irakischen Machthabers zeigte, sind inzwischen etliche Kinder an den Folgen einer Nachstellung des Geschehens gestorben.

Nur eine Woche nach der Veröffentlichung des Videos, das auch von mehreren Fernsehsendern gesendet wurde, starben weltweit bereits sieben Kinder. Zwei Tage nach der Exekution Husseins erhängte eine Gruppe von Schülern einen zwölf Jahre alten Klassenkameraden in einem algerischen Dorf, als sie die Szene nachspielten.

In der jemenitischen Hauptstadt Sana'a erhängte sich am 3. Januar ein 13-Jähriger. Drei Tage später teilte 300 Kilometer südlich von Sana'a ein weiterer Junge das gleiche Schicksal. In Pakistan und in Saudi-Arabien kamen Berichten zufolge zwei weitere Jungen in einer ähnlichen Weise ums Leben.

In Texas tötete sich ebenfalls ein Zehnjähriger vermutlich aus Versehen. Die Mutter sagte gegenüber der Polizei, dass ihr Sohn das Video auf dem spanisch-sprachigen Kanal Telemundo gesehen hatte.

Eine 15-Jährige erhängte sich am 4. Januar im östlichen Indien, nachdem sie das Video mehrere Male gesehen hatte. Der Vater berichtete gegenüber einer Nachrichtenagentur, dass seine Tochter äußerst deprimiert gewesen sei und aus Protest gegen die Hinrichtung Saddam Husseins habe auch keine Nahrung mehr zu sich nehmen wollen.

Auch danach gab es weitere Berichte über Todesfälle – verursacht durch das Nachspielen der Hinrichtung. In der marokkanischen Stadt Khemisset erhängte sich ein Elfjähriger, ein 15-Jähriger in Casablanca. Auch in Aserbaidschan und der Türkei ereigneten sich ähnliche Vorfälle.